No opt-out for religious if abortion laws liberalised

Public hospitals will be obliged to provide abortion services if they are legalised here, regardless of their religious ethos, the HSE and the Minister for Health have both said.

They were responding to comments by Peter Boylan, former master of the National Maternity Hospital, that some hospitals with a Catholic ethos might try to opt out if next year’s planned referendum and any subsequent legislation paves the way for terminations to be performed here.

Health Minister Simon Harris described Dr Boylan’s testimony to the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment as “very powerful” but he was in no doubt about the duties of hospitals.