.- The association Professionals for Ethics in Spain announced that 3,000 Spaniards have written to the country's Minister of Health, Leire Pajin, demanding that she respect the right of health care workers to object to abortion and euthanasia.
Leonor Tamayo, a spokesman for Professional for Ethics, stated on Jan. 4 that the 3,000 emails were the result of a campaign asking Pajin to support Resolution 1763. The resolution was approved in October 2010 by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, recognizing the “right to conscientious objection in medical care.”
The resolution recommends that “no person, hospital or institution shall be coerced, held liable or discriminated against in any manner because of a refusal to perform, accommodate, assist or submit to an abortion, the performance of a human miscarriage, or euthanasia or any act which could cause the death of a human fetus or embryo, for any reason.”
Resolutions of the Council of Europe are not legally binding, but have considerable influence on the policies of EU member states.
Tamayo remarked that he is confident the number of emails to Pajin as well as to regional health ministers will increase in the coming weeks.
