Written answers

Tuesday, 15 January 2019

Department of Health

Abortion Legislation

Photo of Mattie McGrathMattie McGrath (Tipperary, Independent)
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601. To ask the Minister for Health the protections for conscientious objection provided for student midwives, pharmacists and doctors in the Health (Regulation Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. [54315/18]

Photo of Simon HarrisSimon Harris (Wicklow, Fine Gael)
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As the Deputy will be aware, the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act was passed by the Houses of the Oireachtas on 13 December 2018 and enacted signed by the President on the 20 December 2018.

The service for termination of pregnancy was introduced on 1 January 2019.

Conscientious objection is covered under Section 22 of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018. It states that where he/she has a conscientious objection, a medical practitioner, nurse or midwife shall not be obliged to carry out, or participate in the carrying out, a termination of pregnancy. The Act makes it clear that conscientious objection cannot be invoked in an emergency situation, when the risk to a pregnant woman’s life or health is immediate.

In the event of a doctor, nurse or midwife having a difficulty in undertaking a required medical procedure, he or she will have a duty to make arrangements for the transfer of the woman’s care to a colleague.

I brought amendments to this section in the Dáil to ensure that it is clear that conscientious objection extends to all those who may be asked to directly participate in providing termination of pregnancy services, including students. The amendments ensured that student nurses and midwives are clear that they may refuse to participate in termination of pregnancy procedures on the grounds that they have a conscientious objection. Medical practitioners were already covered by Section 22.

It would not be reasonable to include any other personnel such as pharmacists, as this could have the effect of blocking a woman’s access to a lawfully provided and, in some cases, medically-indicated treatment.

However, pharmacists are obliged to comply in full with the statutory Code of Conduct for Pharmacists, published by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland. Principle 1 of the Code of Conduct states that “a pharmacist should ensure that in instances where they are unable to provide prescribed medicines or pharmacy services to a patient, they must take reasonable action to ensure these medicines/services are provided and the patients care is not jeopardised.”

I understand that the Council of the Pharmaceutical Society of Ireland has approved a new Code of Conduct for pharmacists, which it will be submitting to the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission for approval before it comes to me as Minister for approval.

Part 5 of Principle 4 on page 9 of the proposed Code of Conduct makes provision for conscientious objection, subject to the pharmacist referring a patient to an alternative provider if the pharmacist cannot provide a professional service or medicinal product, so that patient care is not jeopardised or compromised.

A footnote to the Principle makes specific reference to a pharmacist transferring the care of a pregnant woman who wishes to avail of services for the termination of pregnancy.

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