Catholic doctors in Bangladesh often ignore Church teaching on abortion and birth control because they are afraid they will lose their job or lose patients.
The doctors’ predicament came to light during a “Faith in the Life of Medical Professionals” workshop organised by the Catholic Bishops’ Commission for Healthcare and the Association of Catholic Doctors.
Birth control has been heavily encouraged in Bangladesh, a country of more than 152 million people, since the 1990s, reported the Catholic news agency UCA News.
The agency said abortion is illegal unless the life of the mother is deemed to be in danger, but doctors say it is common.
Dr June Jacqueline Gomes, one of the Catholic doctors at the workshop, said turning away a woman who wants an abortion means the patient will never return to her practice, so few of the country’s 90 Catholic doctors dare to refuse to perform one.
Dr Gomes said she has performed “hundreds” of ligations — tying women’s tubes to prevent pregnancies, which is also against Catholic teaching.
Dr Anthony Albert, who works in a private hospital in Dhaka, said he was trained in menstrual regulation — “a kind of induced abortion” — after he graduated, and “I have done hundreds of MRs in my life, otherwise I might have lost my job.”
Keynote speaker Bishop Theotonious Gomes of Dhaka, head of the bishops’ commission, said a Catholic doctor shouldn’t just look for money.
“Catholic social teaching puts human life on top of everything and we never support destroying life. Even if our faith collides with reality, we need to stick to our faith,” he said.
Bishop Gomes added that the Church is currently thinking of establishing a “model Catholic hospital” in the Bangladesh, where people could receive treatment in accord with Catholic teachings.
Sister Mary Olympia, a nun from Associates of Mary Queen of Apostles congregation who is also a doctor, said she often feels the Church needs to relax its rules.
“Sometimes, without an abortion a mother can die or without artificial birth control the family of a partner with HIV can break down.”
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Image: UCA News