Irish hospital posts ad requiring new employees to perform abortions
A hospital in the Republic of Ireland recently posted a job advertisement explaining that applicants must be willing to help perform abortions, drawing criticism from pro-life activists.
Last May, voters in Ireland approved via referendum a repeal of a constitutional amendment that banned abortion by an overwhelming majority.
The Dublin-based National Maternity Hospital recently advertised for job openings for consulting positions in anesthesia, gynecology and obstetrics.
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“The post-holders will provide in-patient, on-call service and out-patient care, along with teaching, administration and management duties, which, as of 2019, includes elective termination of pregnancy services,” read the job post, which added that “post-holders will be expected to contribute to this new service as part of their practice plan.”
Peter Lynas of the Evangelical Alliance took issue with the ad, posting an image of it on Twitter last Friday, and stating that the hospital is alienating potential employees who are morally opposed to abortion.
“This advert makes pretty clear those with a conscientious objection should not apply - and note the irony of the moto - life glorious life. Doubtful it is legal. No doubt it is wrong,” tweeted Lynas.
The hospital said in a statement to the Irish Independent that the job post was connected to Ireland’s Health Service Executive department’s funding of newly legal abortion services.
“These particular additional posts are being funded specifically from a financial allocation to the hospital from the HSE for the provision of termination of pregnancy services and are for individuals willing to contribute to the provision of these services,” stated the hospital.
A similar ad by the hospital that was posted to the website irishjobs.ie last Friday and accessed by The Christian Post on Monday did not include a sentence expecting participation in the “elective termination of pregnancy.”
In May of last year, Irish voters repealed the predominantly Catholic country’s Eighth Amendment, which had read that the government would recognize “the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother.”
Currently, the new law in Ireland allows for abortions up to 12 weeks from the start of a pregnancy and then for “exceptional circumstances” after 12 weeks.
In late December, it was reported that the National Maternity Hospital was going to begin accepting abortion referrals on Jan. 7 following the official repeal of the pro-life amendment.
“We can only accept referrals from General Practitioners and Community based services like the Irish Family Planning Association,” explained the hospital, as reported by TheJournal.ie.
