Head of Catholic hospital quits over ethics code

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Lord Bridgeman has stepped down as chairman of the board of directors of the Hospital of St John and St Elizabeth over a new code of ethics which bans its doctors from making abortion referrals and handing out contraceptives and the morning after pill.

Two other senior directors have already quit the Roman Catholic hospital in St John's Wood over the issue.

The code was ordered by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-Connor after it emerged that the hospital had flouted church teaching. It was to have been implemented by the spring but executives refused to approve it.

Its past maternity patients include Cate Blanchett and Kate Moss.