A Catholic doctor who refused to sanction
a sex-selective abortion is fighting for his career after a complaint was made
against him.
Dr Mark Hobart could be struck off
Australia’s medical register for declining to arrange an abortion of a healthy
girl because her parents wanted a boy instead, the Catholic Herald reports.
He was asked for an abortion by an
Indian couple who wanted to a boy but the mother was 19 weeks pregnant with a
girl.
But he would not accede to their
demands because the pregnancy was at an “advanced stage” and because he saw no
medical necessity for it.
He also refused to refer the woman
and her husband to a second doctor who would arrange the procedure.
The couple found another doctor
and went ahead with the abortion a few days later.
An investigation was launched into
the conduct of Dr Hobart after he publicly discussed his case and members of
the Medical Board of Victoria complained about him.
The Victoria Abortion Reform Act
2008 allows conscientious objection only if doctors will find other medics to
arrange abortions instead.
The Melbourne-based medic is being
investigated by the Medical Board of Australia and also by the Australian
Health Practitioner Regulation Agency – the Australian equivalent of the
General Medical Council – and he could lose his licence to practice medicine
anywhere in the country.
“I refused to refer the patient
because there was no medical reason to do it and it offended my moral
conscience,” said Dr Hobart, 55, who has practised medicine for 27 years.
“It’s very wrong,” he told
Australia’s Nine media. “I don’t know any doctor in Victoria that would be
willing to refer a woman that wanted to have an abortion just because of gender
at 19 weeks.”
He added: “The pregnancy was well
advanced and I refused to refer the patient because there was no medical reason
to do it.”
Dr Hobart added: “I think it
demonstrates the problem with abortion law that stops doctors from using their
conscience whether it is appropriate or not.”
The 2008 Abortion Law Reform Act
of the Australian state of Victoria is one of the most permissive abortion laws
in the world.
It allows abortion on demand in
the first 24 weeks of pregnancy and up to birth with the consent of two
doctors.
But because the regulatory agency
is national rather than federal, the loss of a licence to practice would apply
in all Australian states.
There is also increasing demand
from wealthy, established communities with small families who are seeking to
set their own balance of boys and girls.