The president of the Rome order
of physicians Giuseppe Lavra has asked Lazio regional governor
Nicola Zingaretti to withdraw what he describes as an "unjust"
call for two abortion doctors at Rome's San Camillo hospital to
solve widespread conscientious objection, it emerged on
Thursday.
Lavra is also asking the national federation of health
orders' central committee to make a pronouncement on the matter.
"To foresee a competition that is open only to non
conscientious objectors is discriminatory towards those
exercising a right sanctioned by bioethics and medical
professional ethics," he said.
On Wednesday the Italian Bishops Conference (CEI) slammed the
planned hiring of two gynecologists at San Camillo on a contract
that reportedly envisages their dismissal if they refuse to
perform abortions because it is against their consciences.
Health Minister Beatrice Lorenzin said the call was "not
envisaged" by law, adding however that hospitals could ask
regional governments to complete "specific individual services".
Women regularly complain about the difficulty of obtaining
an abortion in Italian hospitals, where conscientious-objector
doctors are a majority.
According to the latest figures, seven out of 10 Italian
doctors are conscientious objectors to abortion.
Zingaretti said on Wednesday that the hirings were a way
of making sure Italy's abortion law is upheld.
"We have to face up to the issue of the real implementation
of Law 194, also by trying innovative forms of a law that would
otherwise not be upheld", he told reporters.
But, he said, the call for the two posts at San Camillo was a
limited one and the overall right to conscientious objection was
"100% guaranteed".
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