The Mater hospital is required by the newly passed Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act to perform abortions under certain circumstances. This includes the suicide ground.

Fr Kevin Doran, a member of the board of the Mater, said the law clashed with the ethos of the hospital. The Iona Institute released a statement today defending Fr Doran.

The press release is as follows:

Immediate release

Press release from The Iona
Institute

State must respect Catholic ethos
of Mater Hospital

August 8, 2013– The State must respect the ethos of the Mater
hospital, The Iona Institute has said today.

The organisation was
reacting after Fr Kevin Doran, a member of the Board of Directors of the
hospital said he believed the Mater “cannot comply” with the Protection of Life
During Pregnancy Act.

Speaking on behalf of
The Iona Institute, Dr John Murray said: “A Catholic hospital cannot be
expected to alter its ethos to accommodate the newly passed law on abortion.
The ethos of the Mater already requires it to provide first-class medical care
to both mothers and babies. Its ethos is already pro-life in the best sense of
that term”.

He continued: “However,
the new law will force it to compromise this ethos. Under it, the Mater could
be faced with a scenario where it is told to perform an abortion that clashes
with its ethos, for example, where a woman is deemed to be suicidal. The Mater
hospital currently saves lives. It cannot be forced to take lives in order to
conform with a badly misguided law”.

Dr Murray added: “According
to some legal experts, the refusal of the Protection of Life During Pregnancy
Act to respect the ethos of Catholic hospitals could be unconstitutional. As a
result of, the board of the Mater could well decide to take a constitutional
case against the new law”.

ENDS