DOCTOR UNDER PRESSURE FOR FOLLOWING HIS CONSCIENCE

The Irish Catholic has an exclusive this week on a case taken against an Irish Doctor because he refused to treat an unmarried couple for infertility. Dr. Phil Boyle runs an infertility clinic in Galway that offers Napro treatment which is acceptable to the Church and much cheaper than In Vitro Fertilization. He claims to have helped the conception of over 750 children. After refusing to treat an unmarried couple because it would be against his beliefs as a Catholic he was reported and summoned before the Fitness to Practice Committee last week on a professional misconduct charge. He won the case on a technicality in that they were not his patients and he did not get the chance to offer a referral to someone else. The case could go further to the Equality Authority and even as far as the Supreme Court since Irish equality legislation does not allow for freedom of religion and conscience (recognized in article 44 of the Constitution). Is this the beginning of the persecution of Catholics and other believers because they will not compromise their consciences?