- December 16, 2011 (LifeSiteNews.com) - The chief gynecologist at a Barcelona “Catholic” hospital that is being protested monthly for performing abortions, has announced his involvement in a website created by the pharmaceutical industry to promote the use of abortifacient contraceptives, according to Europa Press.
Professor Joaquín Calaf Alsina, who leads the gynecological staff at the Santa Creu i Sant Pau (Holy Cross and Saint Paul) Hospital in Barcelona, is acting as the medical expert for “Women without Complexes,” a website that provides medical consultations to women who are interested in using the contraceptive products produced by the site’s sponsor, Janssen-Cilag.
According to Europa Press, Calaf Alsina calls the site a “point of encounter” and a “reference” for people who wish to consult with gynecologists over contraceptive methods.
Contraceptive methods featured on the website include “emergency contraception,” the “contraceptive pill,” “the patch,” and Interuterine Devices (IUDs), all of which can cause abortions by preventing the implantation of the embryo in the uterine wall.
Although Calaf Alsina claims that the site is only a “complement, not a medical alternative to professional consultation,” he says that the site offers “consultations” that “will have an anonymous character” and “will be answered within 48 hours.”
“We want it to be a website that is easily accessible and that women, independently of their age, will feel comfortable and bring forth their doubts and questions,” he told Europa Press.
“The presence of Dr. Calaf is material proof of the abortions in Sant Pau,” Fr. Custodio Ballester, a Barcelona priest who is leading protests against the hospital, told LifeSiteNews.com. The priest observed that the gynecologist has publicly endorsed abortion in the past, stating that “the earlier that an abortion is done, the better, both for medical and psychological reasons.”
“In my conversation with Fr. Forcada, a member of the Very Illustrious Administration of the Sant Pau Hospital, he told me that it has never entered into the plans of the management to fire Dr. Calaf,” added Fr. Ballester. “However, they could do it if they wanted to, because the chiefs of the different medical services are freely named by the management of the hospital.”
Currently Santa Creu i Sant Pau Hospital is being protested on the 25th of each month by Catholics outraged by its ongoing policy of providing abortions, despite its links to the Archdiocese of Barcelona.
After many months of stonewalling, denials, and even defense of the hospital by the administration of Barcelona’s Cardinal Archbishop Lluis Martinez Sistach, anonymous diocesan sources told the Spanish press that an order has been given to cease the abortions. But Fr. Ballester says that the hospital’s administration has admitted to him that abortions will continue. Several other Barcelona-area hospitals with ties to the Catholic Church have also been listed as abortion-providers by the government of the province of Catalonia.
One of three priests on the “Most Illustrious Administration” (board of directors) of the hospital has resigned in protest to the abortions, and at least one Vatican official has expressed his “concern” over the situation at Barcelona area Catholic hospitals.
Contact information:
Archdiocese of Barcelona
Sergi Gordo Rodríguez (General Secretary and Chancellor)
Calle del Obispo 5
Barcelona, Spain 08002
Tel: (34) 93.270.10.10
Fax: (34)93.270.13.03
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