News
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What Will Happen if Doctors Defy the Law to Provide Abortions?
If lawmakers won’t protect conscientious providers, then judges should by Dov Fox Days after Texas banned most abortions after about six weeks of pregnancy in September 2021, Dr. Alan Braid disclosed that he had “provided an abortion to a woman, who though still in her first trimester, was beyond the state’s new limit.” Dr. Braid […]
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Australia – ‘It was very traumatic for her’: how conscientious objection hinders women’s access to abortion
How is a doctor’s right to refuse abortion on religious or moral grounds weighed against a woman’s right to healthcare? Sophie Black, The GuardianFri 15 Jul 2022 Forwomen in certain parts of Queensland seeking an abortion, Nicole Huig knows how much can’t be taken for granted. If you live on the wrong side of the […]
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Abortion in Italy is legal, but finding one is hard
Rome (AFP) – For 40 years, gynaecologist Michele Mariano has been the only person performing abortions in Italy’s conservative Molise region. He has delayed retiring twice because no one will replace him, many refusing to terminate pregnancies as conscientious objectors. It’s an extreme example, but emblematic of a wider issue in Italy, where abortion up […]
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What is ‘conscientious objection’? Here’s why major parties are talking about it
By David Lao, Global News As the campaign for the 2021 federal election continues, one controversial topic looks to be coming right to the forefront — whether health-care professionals are obligated to provide care for service they morally oppose, or at least refer the patient to another doctor. At issue is what’s known as conscientious […]
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Australia – Doctors’ conscientious objection to abortion can affect women’s health: study
Some Victorian health professionals who conscientiously object to abortion are breaking the law by not referring patients to another professional who doesn’t object, new Victorian research has found. Published in BMC Medical Ethics, the University of Melbourne-led study found that in some cases, women had abortions much later than necessary or had the baby, despite […]
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Ghana – The battle of values: Health practitioners make medical decisions based on personal values
By Mathias AbobaWomen seeking legal abortion care including life-threatening complications due to abortion (post-abortion complication) or after suffering miscarriage may be denied care by some health service providers in Ghana due to their religious or moral beliefs, a research finding has revealed. According to the study, which looked at Conscience-based Objection to abortion care or […]
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Let’s call ‘conscientious objection’ by its name: Obstruction of access to care and abortion in South Africa
Satang Nabaneh, Marion Stevens, and Lucia Berro PizzarossaSouth Africa has one of the most liberal laws on abortion and constitutionally recognizes reproductive rights as human rights. However, data shows important difficulties translating the legal norms into effective access to services. One of the key challenges is physicians’ refusal to perform abortions invoking an “ad hoc, […]
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Abandoned film
A 2018 documentary film showing the tragic harms of belief-based care denial for women in Europe was produced in 2018, by award-winning freelance filmaker Patricia Josefine Marchart (www.schutzfilm.com) Christian Fiala is the film’s producer, and aspecialist in Obstetrics and Gynecology who operates two abortion clinics in Austria, as well as the award-winning Museum of Contraception and Abortion in […]
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How ‘conscientious objectors’ threaten women’s newly-won abortion rights in Latin America
From Uruguay to Chile, medical staff are refusing to provide abortion services even after their legalisation. Diana CariboniWomen’s rights to legal abortion have increased in Latin America – but so have campaigns and policies for medical staff to be able to ‘conscientiously object’ and refuse to participate in these procedures. “We didn’t see it coming,” […]
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The Growing Abuse of Conscientious Objection
Rebecca J. Cook, JD, JSD, and Bernard M. Dickens, LLB, LLM, PhD, LLD Virtual Mentor. May 2006, Volume 8, Number 5: 337-340 Physicians’ rights to refuse to participate in medical procedures that offend their conscience may be incompatible with patients’ rights to receive lawful, medically indicated treatment. Historically, the goal of medicine has been to […]