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CONCORDAT-SLOVAKIA Jan-10-2006 (610 words) xxxi
EU panel expresses concern over doctor's right to object to abortion
By Cindy Wooden
Catholic News Service
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -- Criticizing a proposed treaty between the Vatican and Slovakia, a European Union advisory panel said there are limits to a doctor's right to conscientiously object to performing abortions.
In mid-December, the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights said conscientious objections cannot be allowed to prevent women from having an abortion when the procedure is legal.
In its 41-page report on conscientious objection clauses in Vatican treaties, specifically looking at the proposed treaty with Slovakia, the panel also said such provisions could be seen as granting special status to the Catholic Church and its members in violation of national, European and international laws.
The network, an advisory body whose opinions are not binding, was established by the European Commission, an administrative body of the European Union. The commission asked the network to study the Vatican-Slovakian concordat.
Officials of the Vatican Secretariat of State and the Vatican nuncios in Slovakia and at the European Union in Brussels were studying the report in early January and were not prepared to comment.
However, Vatican officials -- including the late Pope John Paul II -- consistently have said the proposed treaty was not designed to grant special privileges to the Catholic Church or to interfere with the government's right to govern. The treaty's purpose is to ensure respect for the rights of the Catholic Church and its members to practice their faith and contribute to the good of Slovakian society.
The treaty has undergone several drafts since 2003.
In its discussion of the draft treaty, the EU panel said all member nations of the European Union recognize a right to religious conscientious objection, but that right is not unlimited, particularly if exercising the right would lead to a violation of the rights of another person.
Panel members said that in countries where abortion is legal the right of physicians, nurses and other staff members not to perform abortions for reasons of conscience and the right of Catholic hospitals not to offer abortion services cannot be allowed to infringe on the right of women to access the procedure.
In addition to dealing with abortion, the treaty would recognize that Catholic hospitals have no obligation to provide "artificial or assisted fertilizations, experiments with or handling of human organs, human embryos or human sex cells, euthanasia, cloning, sterilizations" or to provide contraception.
The panel said the need to ensure that Catholic conscientious objection does not infringe on other rights is particularly important in Slovakia, where 70 percent of the population is Catholic.
"The most serious threat resulting from the text under discussion concerns its potential impact on the right to have access to certain medical services," the panel said. "There is a risk that the recognition of a right to exercise objection of conscience in the field of reproductive health care will make it, in practice, impossible or very difficult for women to receive advice or treatment in this field, especially in the rural areas," the panel said.
The panel said it was essential that, if the treaty recognizes religious conscientious objection, the law also must mandate that the woman be referred to someone who will perform the abortion.
The opinion concluded that the Vatican-Slovakian treaty "may lead to the state violating its obligations" under international law by granting special status to Catholics, to the Catholic Church and to Catholic moral teaching.
In addition, it said, because the treaty could result in restricted access to counseling and abortion, sterilization and contraception, "which disproportionately affect women," the treaty also violates Slovakia's international commitments to ending discrimination against women and ensuring their equal access to "goods and services."
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