Speaking about contraception, Malta Archbishop Charles Scicluna has said last Friday on TV that "one must remember that the Church always placed the argument in the context of marriage". He added: "What we are saying is that if you have to use a contraceptive, make sure it is not one that kills life."
I have spent my medical career so far as a family doctor in England, refusing to prescribe contraception. This has brought me into conflict at times, and I have had to be so careful how I manage it.
I've been refused work because of my stance on not prescribing contraception. I know several Catholic medics who've been hauled before the general medical council of the UK, accused of abusing the doctor-patient relationship balance and enforcing the doctor's moral values based on religion, on the patient.
I know of a pharmacist in Ireland who was fired from his job, and spent months of mental anguish and near financial ruin because he refused to dispense contraception.
After what Scicluna …More