{"id":189757,"date":"2018-10-16T07:44:32","date_gmt":"2018-10-16T12:44:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=189757"},"modified":"2018-10-11T22:46:06","modified_gmt":"2018-10-12T03:46:06","slug":"conscience-sweden-pro-life-midwives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/conscience-sweden-pro-life-midwives\/","title":{"rendered":"While other countries support conscience rights, Sweden fires pro-life midwives"},"content":{"rendered":"
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According to the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), adopted in 1948, “Everyone has the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion” and “to manifest his religion or belief in teaching, practice, worship and observance.” And, as Alliance Defending Freedom recently noted<\/a>, “the\u00a0Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has passed a resolution on \u2018the right to conscientious objection in lawful medical care\u2019.” But given the situation of at least two pro-life midwives in Sweden, it seems certain governing bodies have chosen not to follow these resolutions.<\/p>\n

Ellinor Grimmark (about whom Live Action News has previously reported<\/a>) and Linda Steen, both midwives in Sweden, have been prevented from giving care to expectant mothers because they refuse to take part in abortion. Alliance Defending Freedom writes that Grimmark “applied for a position as a midwife at\u00a0H\u00f6glandssjukhuset\u00a0women\u2019s clinic in 2013. After initially offering her the job, the clinic then withdrew the job offer because\u00a0Ellinor\u00a0had explained that she couldn\u2019t, in good conscience, participate in abortions.” Later, she applied to another women’s clinic and was told “that a person who refuses to perform abortions doesn\u2019t belong at a women\u2019s clinic.” When Grimmark pursued legal action, despite the UDHR and the supposed conscience protections for medical workers,\u00a0the district court of J\u00f6nk\u00f6ping County Council ruled against her.<\/p>\n

READ: Sweden has a midwife shortage \u00a0— but if you’re pro-life, you might be turned away<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Steen’s story is similar. According to ADF<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In March 2015,\u00a0Linda\u00a0was denied employment as a midwife because she would not carry out abortions. After explaining her position to the nursing unit manager, the Women\u2019s Clinic of\u00a0Nyk\u00f6ping\u00a0refused to hire\u00a0her. She received a letter from the management stating:\u00a0\u2018It is not our policy or our approach to leave any opening for a conscience clause. We have neither the ability nor intention to work with such exceptions.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

It was not enough to simply deny Linda the position at\u00a0Nykoping\u2019s\u00a0clinic.\u00a0The manager went even further by contacting another potential employer about Ms. Steen\u2019s convictions. As a result, her interview was cancelled.<\/em><\/p>\n

Abortion is the only surgical procedure designed to end a pregnancy by intentionally killing a living human being. Therefore, abortion is not like any other medical procedure, though those in the abortion industry have claimed otherwise.<\/p>\n