A Monash University expert is available to comment on Catholic hospitals across Australia using the cover of religion to opt out of providing reproductive care.
Senior Lecturer, Dr Ronli Sifris, Deputy Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law in the Faculty of Law at Monash University.
Contact: +61 3 9903 4840 or media@monash.edu
Read more of Dr Ronli Sifris at Monash Lens
The following can be attributed to Dr Sifris:
“Australia is a secular country but many of our public hospitals are faith-based hospitals that conscientiously object to certain forms of medical care.
“The refusal of certain hospitals to provide the full range of reproductive health care means that patients are often denied the care that they require, despite the fact that those hospitals are funded by the public purse.
“The consequence is that patients may be pushed into the private system, or unable to obtain the care that they need altogether.
“As a society, we need to recognise that abortion and contraception are health care, and to provide these services within the public health system.”
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