Dublin, Ireland, Jul 17, 2019 / 12:01 pm (CNA).- Documents from the Republic of Ireland’s health department show that abortion services are limited at nine of the country’s 19 maternity hospitals, in part due to conscientious objectors.
In a May 2018 referendum, Irish voters repealed a constitutional amendment recognizing the right to life of unborn children and equal to mothers’ right to life. Legislators then enacted legislation allowing legal abortion.
Ireland now permit medical abortions to be performed by general practitioners through nine weeks of pregnancy. Hospitals are allowed to perform surgical abortions through 12 weeks. After 12 weeks, abortions may be performed in “exceptional circumstances.”
The law permits medical professionals who conscientiously object to abortion to refrain from participation in the procedure; however, doctors who object to abortion must refer women to doctors who will perform them.
A statement from the Department of Health, obtained by TheJournal.ie, says that “the HSE [Health Service Executive] has advised that where conscientious objection has arisen in relation to the provision of termination of pregnancy services, hospital groups are working with the hospitals in question to find an appropriate solution.”
Of the nine maternity hospitals that do not offer full abortion services, five are due to to “operational issues”, and four are related to conscientious objection and recruitment, according to an April update sent to the national health department.
Some of the hospitals are small, and have argued that abortion provision there would be unnecessarily expensive.
South Tipperary General Hospital in Clonmel, about 30 miles south of Thurles, has “the smallest number of births in the country (900 a year) and maternity services represent a small part of its activities; to establish a service in the hospital will require dedicated clinics, which may have little or no demand”, according to one of the documents.
The HSE added that abortion provision at South Tipperary “would not represent optimal use of scarce resources given the proximity of STGH to other hospitals providing the service.”
The health department has said it is “extremely disappointed that, at this stage, there are still only 10 hospitals providing full ToP (termination of pregnancy) services”.
“From the outset the Minister and the Department have been very clear that government policy is to normalise ToP service provision within our maternity hospitals and that services will be provided from all 19 maternity hospitals,” the Department of Health stated.
“In that context, it is not acceptable that the NWIHP [National Women & Infants Health Programme] should seek to defer introduction of the service on the basis of low demand or because of sufficient regional coverage or, indeed, because of preference to provide services on a networked basis.”
Dr. Trevor Hayes, a consultant obstetrician/gynecologist at St. Luke’s General Hospital in Kilkenny, maintained at a July 6 pro-life rally in Dublin that health minister Simon Harris is “obsessing with abortion” and is “trying to bully good men and women to get involved in their abortion against their conscience.”
Continued pressure to back abortion would force doctors, nurses and other medical professionals out of medicine and add to “the staffing crisis already crippling the health service,” Hayes predicted.
Hayes is one of several consultant colleagues at St. Luke’s who have told management they would not perform abortions. He told that rally that abortion is “a procedure that helps no one and takes the life of the child … Abortion is not life-saving, it’s life-ending. It’s not health care, and no amount of spin can make it health care.”
The health department’s documents show that “it is unlikely” that abortion service will begin at St. Luke’s General Hospital in 2019.
In May, the Irish bishops’ conference objected to job requirements mandating that certain consultant doctors be willing to participate in abortions, saying the country’s abortion law had promised to safeguard conscience rights for medical professionals.
An advertisement for two consultants, for obstetrics/gynecology and anesthesia, at the National Maternity Hospital in Dublin says applicants must be willing to participate in abortions.
“This precondition runs totally counter to a doctor’s constitutional and human right to freedom of conscience,” said the bishops.
The bishops’ conference said such preconditions may rule out the best possible person for the job by eliminating candidates solely because they are unwilling to perform abortions.
“A doctor who is eminently qualified to work as a consultant in these fields is denied employment in these roles because of his/her conscience,” said the bishops.
“Doctors who are pro-life and who may have spent over a decade training in these areas and who may otherwise be the best candidate for these positions are now advised that, should they apply, they would not be eligible for consideration,” they said.
A spokesman for the National Maternity Hospital argued that the specific posts were funded by the HSE for the purpose of abortions.
“They are therefore for individuals willing to contribute to the provision of these services. Other past and future posts are not affected. The conscientious objection guidelines for staff in both hospitals remain unchanged,” the spokesman said, according to RTE.
At least 640 general practitioners in Ireland signed a petition in November objecting to the new obligation of referring patients to other doctors for abortions.
The majority of the country’s 2,500 GPs are unwilling to perform abortions. Only between 4 and 6 percent of GPs have said they would participate in the procedure.
At the July 6 All Ireland Rally for Life, Archbishop Eamon Martin of Armagh, said: “I march today because I believe it remains as important as ever to affirm the sanctity of all human life. The direct and intentional taking of the life of any innocent human being is always gravely wrong – we must avoid becoming desensitized to the value of every human life.”
He called for more help for vulnerable women, for mothers and fathers who are in crisis, and for “parents who feel that they have made the wrong choice in having an abortion.”
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Um, he should be retired & sent to the Mr mccarick home for mitres gone south…
All of humanity was created by God. As Christians we are called to love God above all things, with all our hearts, with all our souls and with all our minds and TO LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR AS OURSELVES. I think that includes Muslims.
To truly love someone is to desire and will what is best for them, in this life and the life to come. Is it better for Muslims to stay Muslim, or to hear the Gospel and, by God’s grace, become Catholic?
Many Christian missionaries through the ages, including several early Franciscans who were stoned to death in Morocco, have given their lives for testifying and preaching the Gospel among the followers of the religion of peace. Many more Christians have been killed and enslaved by the triumphant armies of the religion of peace. See this scholarly interview by CWR Fr. Connolly:
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2020/12/16/the-forgotten-history-of-christian-slavery-under-islam/
Of course Miss Rosemary. Neighbor means neighbor. We don’t exclude anyone from that love. God made us all.
Ah yes, but Christ Has Revealed True Love requires desiring Salvation for one’s beloved, so how can one be Loving anyone if they first and foremost do not desire that person’s Salvation?
I agree.
I think Leo has lost his mind establishing a prayer room at the Vatican for islamists. I doubt if Orthodox Christian Church would hear anything of this nonsense.
Indeed. The Orthodox Churches have had Islam rattling their gates for 1400 years. The know exactly what is at risk.
I was hoping he would be different, but it’s becoming more apparent that Pope Leo is a Francis clone.
I look forward to the new welcoming of immigrants by the Vatican.
To borrow and injunction, Pope Leo, tear down those walls.
TPR: instead of asking Uganda to accept our criminal “migrants”, I think we ought to advocate sending all of our illegal aliens to the Vatican. They’ll be delighted to receive them all as they would Christ. One million illegals should fit comfortably inside those wall of Vatican City State
Yes,, Yes Yes I completely agree with you.
Redux you are not making sense.
Here is your recent comment in Chapp’s CWR article on Dilexit.
‘ DiogenesRedux
October 14, 2025 at 1:10 am
ELIAS GALY: Are you advocating the weaponizatuon of the Eucharist to advance a political cause? Because that’s exactly what this was. I hope you’re not virtue signaling. ‘
https://www.catholicworldreport.com/2025/10/10/reflections-on-dilexi-te-the-first-magisterial-document-of-leo-xivs-papacy/
Presumably the Pontifical Commission for the Vatican City State is responsible for overseeing the Vatican’s forward-looking abortion initiatives?
At least Cupich should be able to count on the support of abortion expert and Dark Vatican friend Senator Durbin.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HWqKPWO5T4o
Bingo. The same analogy came up in discussion the other day with daily communicants. We observe a boy’s club, the faithful abandoned while the lads climb the ladder and proclaim their personal truths as doctrine.
It doesn’t cut the mustard.
Deep State Leo.
The good news Cupich is leaving Chicago. The bad news is that Pope Leo next selection will likely be similar to Cupich.
The news will be news when the appointment is made! Not before. If you must speculate, speculate with Charity.
A “promotion” to the 109-acre Vatican city-state, rather than to a dicastery of the Holy See. And, as in the United States, when some House members are elected to the Senate, this can improve the average IQ of both houses. Waiting now to see who will replace Cardinal Cupich in Chicago…
Groundskeeper at the Leo XIV estate is nothing to sneer about. Besides there’s the camaraderie of two windy men from the Windy City.
A charitable construction of this appointment is that Cupich has been kicked upstairs to a largely ineffectual post at the Vatican. He’ll likely do less damage there than in Chicago.
I’m shocked, shocked I tell you. Most all the American catholic media outlets and pundits have been assuring us Leo wasn’t Francis 2.0 and claiming Leo didn’t side with Cupich in the Derbin award scandal. Not only has Leo not accepted Cupich’s resignation, he’s now given him yet another position, also meaning Cupich is staying on in Chicago for the foreseeable future.
I had such Hope, such joy at Pope Leo’s election. I thought I saw in him a good man, a holy man. But, no I was mistaken. It hurts my heart to see he really is Francis 2.0, as the saying goes. I remind myself that God is in charge so all is unfolding in accordance with his will.
His Will or His permissive will?
God does not Will that we accommodate a blasphemy of The Holy Ghost, due to the hardening of our hearts.
God wills that we are Faithful and Abide In The Word Of God Incarnate.
Every day I am more disappointed in Francis 2.0. Is this a reward for the havoc and cruelty Cupich has wreaked in Chicago? Nothing on China as they advance with their control of the Church; no ultimatums to those committing ACTUAL genocide of Christians in Nigeria; a big increase in the number of bishops in the US denying the TLM and sneering at altar rails, kneeling for communion, etc (why? because they KNOW Leo is Francis Lite, Francis with kinder words and the trick of wearing traditional vestments)…. but Cupich gets this.
If only we could hope and trust that this appointment was in the best interests of God…
And the damage to the Church continues
A meaningless membership shared with 5 other Cardinals, and a President (Sister Petrini!) and two Secretaries-General on top. Perhaps a first feathered step in getting the over-age Cupich out of Chicago and maybe out of the country and into regal Vatican episcopal obscurity?
My thought as well…when somebody high up the food chain causes a major scandal for the CEO, promoting them somewhere where they can do less damage is SOP. Will have to see who is tapped to replace him before commencing hair pulling, but frankly, past reinstituting pomp and circumstance, have yet to see much of any getting back on course for the Church…not yet, anyhow…
Unless I’m missing something, Cupich will be out of Chicago and US!
This is a sad appointment. I am getting more and more disappointed in this pope as he makes appalling decisions such as appointing Cupich. I am not a Trad! I am a common-sense American Catholic who realizes that promoting the ethics of normalizing homosexual acts in the Church, as in okaying homosexual marriage, is part of Cupich’s plan.
One look at the sordid group of prelates appearing on the loggia with Leo, smiling and glad-handing with each other at his election to the papacy, and it was easy to predict the direction this was going to go. Since he is clearly smarter and more politically astute than was the bombastic, ham-fisted Francis, Leo will probably end up doing far more damage to the Church. God help us…
Let’s get one thing straight: The Catholic Church does not exist to serve the hierarchy (bishops, cardinals and popes). The hierarchy exists to serve the People of God…
Pope Leo is getting close to strike three in my books. Rewarding a cardinal for despicable behavior (honoring the Senate’s most strident pro-abortion member), is a recipe for a disastrous papacy. The verdict is still out, but I am not as hopeful as I had been for this pope. It’s troubling, to say the least.
The Cupich pontificate-by-proxy…twelve more years lies ahead.
Oh dear.
Are we seeing bishop Fulton Sheen’s counter church slowly gaining traction ?
Hope not.
Leo, are you suffering from SDS (Sheen Derangement Syndrome)?
Au contraire.
This remarkable Irish prophet warned about the ape counter church.
One world religion with something for everyone at the Vatican nowadays.
Pachamama if you wish, a Muslim prayer mat in a small Vatican mosque, a seat for a Protestant monarch, pride parades on request, care for creation prayers (rather than true worship to the Creator), a Chinese communist prelate for prayers to Xi.
But please no traddies.
Yes, no traddies!
No reminder of the essence of Catholicism when the existential Church is so far removed… Rather like Dorian Grey, Ecumenical New Church has a queer aversion to mirrors.
Traddies are that mirror.
Demotion by Promotion
Quite a few years ago now ChurchMilitant organised a ranking by vote of the American bishops at the time. Blaise Cupich ranked as the worst.