James Reilly (Dublin North, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

This group of amendments is concerned with conscientious objection. In accordance with the European Convention on Human Rights and the Medical Council's ethical guidelines, section 17 of the Bill clarifies that health professionals - medical and nursing personnel and pharmacists - with a conscientious objection will not be obliged to carry out or assist in carrying out lawful terminations of pregnancy, unless the risk to the life of the pregnant woman is immediate, that is, in an emergency situation.

However, an individual's right to conscientious objection is not absolute and must be balanced against the patient's competing rights, particularly the right to life in the case of a medical emergency. Both the medical guidelines and the Bill make it clear that conscientious objection cannot be invoked when the risk to a pregnant woman's life is immediate. In non-emergency cases, where a doctor or other health professional has a conscientious objection to undertaking a required medical procedure, he or she will have a duty to ensure that another colleague takes over the care of the patient as per current medical ethics. In addition, section 10 of the Bill provides a specific duty on a treating physician who refuses certification to inform the woman that she has a right to apply for a formal review of this decision.

As the Bill covers situations in which medical procedures may be carried out where there is real and substantial risk to the woman's life, the right to conscientiously object has been limited to those directly involved in the provision of treatment. It would not be reasonable to include any other personnel as this might have the effect of blocking a woman's access to a lawfully-provided and medically-indicated treatment.

Finally I wish to address amendments Nos. 90 and 101, which propose to disqualify a doctor from sitting on a review panel if he or she has a conscientious objection to the procedure in question. We covered this in the committee.

While a medical practitioner may have particular beliefs that dictate that he or she feels he or she cannot participate in a particular form of medical procedure, this should not disqualify him or her from participating in the review process set out in the Bill, which calls for his or her clinical judgment to be applied. In situations where they are being called upon to assess whether there is a real and substantial risk to a woman's life, I believe we can trust doctors to apply their professional skill and clinical judgment to the case to ensure that the woman receives the best possible care and treatment.

For these reasons, I do not propose to accept any of the amendments proposed in this grouping.

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