This website brings together views, news, and studies on the phenomenon of so-called “conscientious objection” in healthcare, in particular for abortion and other reproductive healthcare. We have renamed it to belief-based care denial to be more accurate, as the practice is not conscientious and the term is stigmatizing against abortion.
Spanish information on this topic:
News
Following are some news articles on the topic of “conscientious objection”.
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Can a hospital hold a conscience?
by Jasmine Davis22 September 2025 When I first entered medical school and heard the term “conscientious objection”, I was slightly confused. Having been a war history enthusiast in high school, a conscientious objector to me had always been associated with…
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Doctors shouldn’t be allowed to object to medical care if it harms their patients
July 22, 2025 by Julian Savulescu A young woman needs an abortion and the reasons, while urgent, are not medical. A United States Navy nurse at Guantánamo Bay is ordered to force-feed a defiant detainee on hunger strike. These very…
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Improving access to medical abortion in Australian primary care
Many barriers are preventing uptake of medical abortion provision, including “conscientious objection” Annika HowellsIssue 25 / 30 June 2025 Access to safe and affordable abortion is essential health care and a human right. … However, medical abortion is still not…
Victims of Belief-based Denial
Here is a collection of stories where women were refused a legal abortion and suffered serious injury or injustice as a result, including death in some cases. Doctors and hospitals are rarely punished or convicted for these wrongdoings.
Media coverage about serious consequences of the refusal to treat under CO usually only happens when a woman dies, or a woman or her family sues. Here are their stories we could find, but these must be the tip of the iceberg. We know nothing about the vast majority of refusals to treat under CO, or what happens to the victims.
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Harmonie (Oct 2025) – Illinois
Woman denied emergency care for ectopic pregnancy “Honestly, it is so scary to be a woman in 2025 in America. Your religious beliefs should never come before my life or giving me life saving treatment. That’s just crazy to me.…
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Rachel Harrison (2025) – California
In September 2025, Rachel Harrison and her partner sued Dignity Health, a Catholic-affiliated hospital network, because she was denied emergency abortion care on two separate occasions. During the second episode, she developed a life-threatening blood infection. Her first pregnancy loss…
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31 women (anonymous) – USA
Women’s health and lives are frequently put at risk in American Catholic hospitals, but only a few cases are publicized. We count at least 80 so far – 31 mostly anonymous cases are included here, with the rest described individually…
Our Publications
This page lists writings on the topic of “conscientious objection” by Joyce Arthur and/or Christian Fiala. Writings by other scholars who support the “incompatibility thesis” can be found in Publications by Others.
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(May 2025) Origin of “Conscientious Objection” in Health Care
How Care Denials Became Enshrined into Law Because of Abortion Abstract: The United Kingdom was the first country to legalize the refusal to provide health care in the name of “conscientious objection”, allowing doctors to refuse to provide abortions based…
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(Apr 2025) How to discourage belief-based denial of abortion care
by Christian Fiala & Joyce Arthur. Abstract: The exercise of so-called ‘conscientious objection’ in reproductive healthcare is unchecked and subject to widespread abuse. A growing body of evidence shows that the practice creates significant harms for patients needing abortions by delaying…
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(Nov 2024) Countries that Disallow Belief-based Care Denial
It has been claimed by various researchers or NGOs that certain countries do not allow belief-based care denial (aka “conscientious objection”) in reproductive healthcare or healthcare in general. This document examines those claims for each of the named countries. Only…