Lithuanian bishops concerned by government proposal for med students

Published: 2007-08-03

VILNIUS, Lithuania (CNS) -- Lithuania's bishops said they are "gravely concerned" over a Ministry of Health draft document that would oblige would-be obstetricians and gynecologists to learn how to perform abortions up to 22 weeks of pregnancy, sterilization and in vitro fertilization procedures. Noting that these doctors are to welcome a "new life into the world," the Lithuanian bishops said they fear that making such practices obligatory "will make the practice of an obstetrician-gynecologist inaccessible to many young (people) who would otherwise choose to serve the human life in its most sensible prenatal period. Such a compulsion debases the practice of an obstetrician-gynecologist on the whole," said the bishops in an Aug. 1 letter to the Ministry of Health. The bishops expressed concern that such a medical norm would contradict the principle of a doctor's freedom of conscience, which currently is protected by law.

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