By Liz Townsend

The right of doctors and other health care workers to conscientiously refuse to participate in abortion is seriously threatened by an abortion bill now moving through Parliament in the Australian state of Victoria. The lower house passed the bill September 11, while the upper house is scheduled to begin debate October 7, according to the AAP.

The bill would require all health care workers who object to abortion to refer a woman seeking one "to another registered health practitioner in the same regulated health profession who the practitioner knows does not have a conscientious objection to abortion." This directly violates the policies of Catholic hospitals, which refuse to perform or refer for abortions.

In addition to the removal of conscience rights, the bill would allow abortion on demand up to 24 weeks; allow abortion up to birth after the abortionist and another doctor consider "all relevant medical circumstances" and "the woman's current and future physical, psychological and social circumstances"; and allow pharmacists and nurses to prescribe abortion-causing drugs.

Representatives of the state's 15 Catholic hospitals met September 23 to discuss their response to the bill. In a unanimous decision, the hospital officials agreed that they would advise their doctors and nurses not to follow the law, The Age reported.

"We cannot in good faith provide an abortion or a referral to an abortion provider," said Martin Laverty, chief executive of Catholic Health Australia, told The Age. "We will not require our doctors to comply with the law. In the event that the bill is passed we will ensure that staff are able to examine their consciences."

Even the Australian Medical Association, which supports other aspects of the bill, objects to the removal of conscience rights. "Respect for a conscientious objection is a fundamental principle in our democratic country," association officials wrote in a letter to Victorian Premier John Brumby, The Age reported, "and doctors expect that their rights in this regard will be respected, as for any other citizen."

Catholic Archbishop Denis Hart of Melbourne sent a pastoral letter September 19 to the "Catholic people of Victoria and all people of good will" asking them to pray for the women and unborn babies threatened by the bill, and urging them to contact their legislators before the final vote.

Archbishop Hart also wrote that the bill could force the Catholic hospitals to close their obstetrics departments, where about one-third of all births take place in Victoria, so they would not be forced to participate in abortion referral. "If this provision is passed it will be an outrageous attack on our service to the community and contrary to Catholic ethical codes," Archbishop Hart wrote. "Under these circumstances, it is difficult to foresee how Catholic hospitals could continue to operate maternity or emergency departments in this state in their current form."

"Make no mistake about it, the Bill goes beyond codifying current clinical practice, as its proponents claim, and will set an unfortunate precedent which other states may follow," Archbishop Hart added. "I do not believe that our community wants to force nurses, many of whom have a conscientious objection, to assist in late term abortions. I do not believe that the community wants to force them and other health professionals to act contrary to the law, leave their professions or leave Victoria."