Ines Scheibe, member of the executive committee of the Humanist Association of Germany and spokesperson for the Sexual Self-Determination Network, described the scandal surrounding two Catholic-run hospitals in Cologne on Thursday as a bizarre abuse of responsibility for a medical facility.
As reported by the Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger newspaper on Wednesday, an emergency doctor’s request for a gynecological examination for a woman suspected of having been raped was rejected by two Catholic hospitals, as it involved a consultation about a possible pregnancy and its termination as well as the prescription of the “morning-after pill”. The doctors responsible had refused the treatment as it contradicted the ethical and moral theological principles of the Catholic Church and was therefore prohibited. “Hospitals have to provide care for all sections of the population. They are financed from public budgets and the contributions of all those with health insurance. In our view, it is unacceptable if important medical services are simply rejected here with reference to the moral principles of the Catholic Church,” says Ines Scheibe. Politicians are therefore called upon to guarantee comprehensive and independent care for all people in public hospitals. “Church dogmas must not be allowed to undermine the duty of doctors and the rights of women. If an institution is not prepared to accept a modern standard of medical care for people from an enlightened point of view, then it must not be given responsibility for public and state-funded facilities.” Ines Scheibe called for the public and politicians to finally rethink this issue. “In matters of sexual self-determination, personal family planning and pregnancy counseling, we have long been observing a frightening rollback of a conservative and fundamentalist ideology that attacks basic standards of medical and medical ethics. This must not be allowed to take over the public healthcare system.”
