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 Guardian
Fri 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 river or town, she says, “your access is completely different”. Despite the fact that abortion was decriminalised in Queensland in 2018, Huig, the counselling team leader at advocacy group Children by Choice, speaks to women every day about the financial and geographical barriers they face when attempting to access an abortion.
But cost and postcode aren’t the only barriers. Huig says conscientious objection (CO) – the legal right of doctors to refuse to perform abortion – has created real and widespread access issues for women across the state. And for one woman, it had particularly catastrophic consequences.