An organisation representing nurses and midwives has slammed a new draft code for practitioners which says that the “right” to abortion “must” be respected – and has said that many of those working in the field would find the demand “abhorrent”.
The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Ireland (NMBI) has asked practitioners for feedback on a new draft Code of Professional Code of Conduct and Ethics. The code, the NMBI says, “applies to all settings where a nurse or midwife provides healthcare, whether in person, virtually or through other platforms and outlines the professional conduct expected of a registered nurse or midwife”.
They also state that “on joining the Register of Nurses and Midwives” practitioners “commit to upholding the principles and standards of the Code” – and that “all nurses and midwives must be aware that a breach or breaches of the Code could result in a complaint being made against them and being brought before a fitness to practise inquiry.”
Nurses and Midwives for Life Ireland said that the draft code was “clearly seeking to compel practitioners to respect a procedure which ends the life of an unborn child – when, in fact, many nurses and midwives consider abortion to be abhorrent and refuse to take part in ending an unborn child’s life”.
The draft code explains that ‘You must’ is used in the guide “where there is an absolute duty to comply with the principle and standard”. It adds that ‘You should’ is “used to describe the course of action that is generally best practice while acknowledging that another approach may be appropriate in certain circumstances, or that there may be factors outside your control that affect your ability to comply.”
It then spells out that “nurses and midwives must respect a woman’s legal right to a termination of pregnancy within the provisions of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018”.
Mary Fitzgibbon, a nurse, midwife and lecturer in nursing who is Vice Chair of Nurse and Midwives for Life, said that the draft code had only been sent to her department this week, while the consultation for practitioners was set to close next Wednesday, October 2nd.
“The code specifically chooses the term “you must” in relation to abortion,” she said, “even though it is completely contradicted by the absolute duty listed immediately above – to “respect and maintain the dignity of human life”.
Ms Fitzgibbon said that nurses and midwives entered the profession to assist women and their babies, and to save lives, and that growing numbers were concerned that their right to conscientious objection was not being respected.
She said that there was an important distinction between deliberately ending the life of an unborn baby and an emergency situation where action was required to save the life of the mother, where every effort was also made to save the baby. That distinction was “absolutely very well understood by the medical professions, including nursing and midwifery” she said.
“It is important to be aware that a termination of pregnancy according to the Act is a medical procedure intended to end the life of the foetus. For many nurses and midwives abortion is a red line issue and they will not be involved in any procedure intended to deliberately end the life of the foetus – which is completely distinct from an emergency situation where every care is taken to save both lives that of the mother and her baby,” she added.
“Nurses and midwives who have a conscientious commitment to life find this demand to “respect” abortion absolutely abhorrent – and many also ask where is the respect for the life of the unborn child?” she said.
“In Section 5 we are asked to make every valid or reasonable effort to protect the life and health of pregnant women and their unborn baby and in the same breath we are being told there is an absolute duty to respect a woman’s legal right to a termination of pregnancy within the provisions of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018.”
She said that there was currently a “critical shortage of nurses and midwives in the health service, and chipping away at the right to conscientious objection and trying to force pro-life nurses and midwives to “respect” abortion will only serve to drive experienced and capable practitioners away,” she said.
Ms Fitzgibbon urged all nurses and midwives who had concerns to reply to the consultation within what she described as a “ridiculously short timeframe”.
The INMO said last year that the Irish health service was seeing “an exodus of midwives from the public health service” and “a recruitment crisis in public health nursing”.