The United Kingdom was the first country to legalize the denial of health care via “conscientious objection” in its 1967 Abortion Act. This practice has proven to be harmful and unworkable around the world.
On May 29, we sent a message to all Members of Parliament in the United Kingdom, asking them to take action to repeal the “conscience clause” in the 1967 Abortion Act. The message is below.
FILM EXCERPT: In our documentary film Abandoned, we discussed the origin of “conscientious objection” in the UK Abortion Act and interviewed David Steel, the MP who introduced the bill. He explained how that clause came to be in the Act. Watch the excerpt (3:48 minutes).
Letter to UK Members of Parliament
Dear UK Parliamentarians,
On 14 May 2025, over 50 MPs from different parties backed an amendment to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales, specifically to clarify that no offence is committed by women in relation to their own pregnancy. On Monday 2 June, MPs will also debate a petition on decriminalising abortion.
While decriminalization of abortion is a critical and essential step, it does not go far enough. We urge you to take action to repeal the “conscience clause” in the 1967 Abortion Act.
We have recently published two new papers about the harms of “conscientious objection” in peer-reviewed journals. In the Origin of “Conscientious Objection” in Health Care, we found that the practice was first legalized in the 1967 Abortion Act in the UK before spreading around the world. The practice reverses the fundamental medical ethic of putting patients first, and undermines patient autonomy and health. We have coined the more accurate term “belief-based care denial” to emphasize the harms and remove the parallel to military conscientious objection, with which it has nothing in common.
As the instigator of belief-based care denial, we call on the United Kingdom to repeal Section 4 of the 1967 Abortion Act to disallow “conscientious objection.”
In our second article, How to discourage belief-based denial of abortion care, we observe that belief-based care denial is unchecked and subject to widespread abuse around the world. It causes significant harms for patients needing abortions by delaying their care or depriving them of care, sometimes even costing their lives. The article refutes fallacies in the views that support belief-based care denial, and recommends measures to reduce the number of care deniers over time.
We urge the UK government, medical associations, and others to implement these measures.
Thank you for your time, and we would be happy to provide more information or assistance.
Sincerely,
Christian Fiala, MD, PhD
Department of Women’s and Children’s Health,
Karolinska Institutet, Stockholm, Sweden
Gynmed Clinic, Vienna, Austria
Initiative for Reproductive Health Information (IRHI)
christian.fiala@aon.at
Joyce Arthur
Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada, Executive Director
Initiative for Reproductive Health Information (IRHI)
Vancouver BC, Canada
joyce@arcc-cdac.ca
Citations:
Fiala C, Arthur J, Martzke A. (2025). Origin of “Conscientious Objection” in Health Care: How Care Denials Became Enshrined into Law Because of Abortion. Journal of Law, Medicine & Ethics. doi.org/10.1017/jme.2025.46
Fiala, C., & Arthur, J. (2025). How to discourage belief-based denial of abortion care. European Journal of Contraception & Reproductive Health Care. doi.org/10.1080/13625187.2025.2482828
