Australian doctors protest medical associations' support for RU-486

Published: 2006-02-06

SYDNEY, Australia (CNS) -- A group of Australian Catholic doctors has resigned from the country's two leading medical organizations in protest over support the groups have given to the abortion drug RU-486. The Medical Guild of St Luke, a Queensland-based group of Catholic doctors, voted Feb. 5 to reject the recommendations of the Australian Medical Association and the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners who have recommended RU-486 as a safe option for terminating pregnancies when used under medical supervision. Dr. Terrence Kent, the guild's president, urged Catholic doctors "and others of good faith" to resign from the medical organizations. He said the Australian Medical Association's "conscience statement," made without the consultation of the association's membership, was "unacceptable" because it calls RU-486 safe to prescribe to women. Kent said the 200 members of the Guild of St. Luke did not flinch from the group's ethical stand "that all human life is of value."

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