Abortion is far from a dead issue in the UK, even though it has been legal there since 1967. In the latest dispute, the country’s leading Catholic bishop has sacked the entire board of a hospital which he feels is not acting consistently with the Church’s teaching. Some doctors at the private Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth had been doing abortions, providing contraception and doing sex-change surgery. When Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O’Connor became aware of this, he tried to implement a new code of ethics. This was opposed by the hospital’s Medical Advisory Committee and sparked the resignation of at least four directors. Now the Cardinal has demanded the resignation of all directors and has appointed a new chairman, the former chief of the Army, Lord Guthrie of Craigieburn.

The British Medical Association has criticised the move, saying that doctors were being forced to choose between two codes of ethics: the hospital’s and the General Medical Council’s. This stipulates that doctors are not supposed to impose their own beliefs upon their patients. "They must treat patients with respect whatever their life choices are. We are quite clear about our guidance," said a spokeswoman for the GMC. "I am not sure how they [the hospital] would balance that." ~ Independent, Feb 23