On Saturday 19 March, pro-life health and social care workers attended a training day in Edinburgh where they received invaluable peer support, inspiration and the opportunity to reflect on the true meaning of their work.

The training day, which was hosted jointly by St Mary’s University, the Anscombe Bioethics Centre and the Bios Centre, looked at issues ranging from assisted suicide to ethical issues in everyday practice.

Uniting pro-life health and social care workers

Commenting on the event, Dr Helen Watt, a senior research fellow at Bios, said:

“It was a pleasure to be part of the training day, which brought together people from health-related fields to reflect on the true meaning of their work.

“We heard about resources available to health and social care workers and about the alarming inroads made recently by assisted suicide and euthanasia around the world. We also heard about hope-filled accompaniment at the end of life, in a presentation by Maggie Doherty of the Centre for the Art of Dying Well.

“My own presentation focussed on conscientious objection and steering our way between acceptable and unacceptable levels of connection with actions of others we believe to be morally wrong.

“Doctors at the meeting highlighted the importance of offering treatments that are evidence-based and truly beneficial to the patient – also bearing in mind that the General Medical Council (GMC) does not require a doctor to offer what he or she judges is not of overall benefit to the patient.

“The value of speaking one-to-one with colleagues who may take a different view was also stressed.”

“No apology is needed for offering good care”

Dr Watt, reflecting further on the event, added: “I was particularly interested to hear from a panel of health care professionals including Mary Doogan, one of the famous ‘Glasgow midwives’ who took (and sadly lost) a court case defending their right not to supervise abortions. 

“In her lively presentation, Doogan made the point that health care professionals who respect life should not feel they need to apologise: no apology is needed for offering good care.

“The training day was enthusiastically received by those who attended, who appreciated the chance to come together as a like-minded group.  

“A similar day for health and social care professionals will be held tomorrow, Saturday 2 April in central London.”#