Trainee doctors in Ireland are being pushed to consider abortion as the “norm” before being “taught how to care for a normal pregnancy”, warns a young medical student.
Speaking anonymously to Gript, the woman warned that ‘Ireland’s 1st Abortion & Reproductive Care’ student conference was set to provide workshops on how to use manual vacuum aspiration in an “abortion-focused” context. The procedure is used to abort babies up to 12 weeks, while also being used in cases of miscarriage.
The event, which was held at Trinity College Dublin’s Biomedical Sciences Institute, was organised by the university’s ‘Reproductive Society’ and the Association of Medical Students Ireland (AMSI). Free transport was offered to the first ten students who registered from universities outside the capital city.
The student argued that “there is a clear distinction between learning about abortion as part of medical education and receiving practical or procedure-focused abortion training”.
She added: “My concern, and that of other pro-life students, is about the transition from education about abortion to direct, exposure-oriented training in providing it.”
“If medical schools and national student networks are providing space for advocacy and practical education on one side of such a contested and profound ethical issue, there should also be legitimate space for students who hold the opposing position without their beliefs being treated as incompatible with modern medicine.
“I think the formation of the next generation of doctors is the primary question raised by this conference”.
Senator Sarah O’Reilly commented that there is “nothing to fear from a good debate and diversity of opinions”, but “I wonder to myself when Trinity plans on hosting a conference for medical students on conscientious objection to abortion”.
Abortions in Ireland have exceeded 10,000 for the third year in a row, with almost 60,000 babies killed since abortion was legalised following the 2018 referendum.