GP concerns

Sir — I fully agree with Dr Kirsten Fuller (Analysis, Sunday Independent, November 1) regarding GPs not being coerced into facilitating abortion, including onward referral/ transfer of care. The petition, signed by over 640 GPs, is a very significant number and our voices need to be heard sooner rather than later.

The extraordinary general meeting that has been requested on a number of occasions to the Irish College of General Practiticioners has yet to take place. The scheduled date of December 2 is very late for a service that is supposed to be ‘up and running’ by January 1, 2019. It also means legislation will have been passed through the Dail by this stage. How can the real and valid concerns of several hundred GP signatories be acted upon in such a short period of time? What about the important issue of GPs who object to a ‘GPled’ abortion service and who haven’t been given the chance to express their concerns?

Why the silence to these pleas on such an important and impending issue? Given that most GP practices are at maximum capacity, that hundreds of GPs don’t want to participate in this service at all for many and various reasons (time constraints, inadequate resources and ultrasound training, along with conscientious objection), it is hard to believe that GPs will be expected to take all this on board in a matter of weeks. This is neither a compassionate, nor a caring approach to GPs, notwithstanding the fate of the vulnerable unborn babies that lies ahead. It is a slippery slope when freedom of conscience shows signs of being eroded. Dr Aisling Bastible,

Dublin 3