Leslie Cannold writes about the impact of the Catholic Church on the provision of health care services to women in The Age | The Rise of Atheism

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Leslie Cannold writes about the impact of the Catholic Church on the provision of health care services to women in The Age

Posted on : 03-11-2009 | By : grant | In : General

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leslie-cannold-cropped Women are being failed by our hospitals.

Leslie Cannold, medical ethicist, adjunct senior lecturer at Monash University's School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine, and one of the presenters at the Global Atheist Convention, writes about the impact of the Catholic Church on the provision of health care services to women in The Age.

There is no room at the Women's. Once the hospital saw its mission as looking after all Victorian women. Now, those inquiring about having their baby there will be asked their postcode. Should they fall outside the hospital's new geographical catchment area and be at small risk of complication, they'll be referred to a hospital closer to home.

Poor government policy and planning, an upward blip in the fertility rate and Victoria's burgeoning population has seen the number of births jump 12 per cent in the state over a three-year period - but the number of maternity beds fail to keep pace.

As a consequence, the Victorian Government now ''encourages'' women to give birth at their local, suburban hospital.

For most women, the major anxiety generated by the squeeze is finding somewhere, anywhere, to have their baby. But behind the scenes, some perinatal specialists and GPs who share the care of pregnant women with hospitals are fretting about women being referred away from secular public hospitals and towards institutions that are Catholic-run. The reason is simple. There are a number of services that Catholic-run hospitals, even those dedicated to women's health, will not provide...

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