Is there a case for ’institutional conscientious objection’ to abortion and euthanasia?
Institutional conscientious objection may sound like an arcane bioethical issue, but it will be at the centre of fierce political debates in coming years. As...
German bioethicists: abolish conscientious objection to protect the right to abortion
The battle against conscientious objection (CO) continues. Just published on the website of BMC Medical Ethics is an article by three bioethicists from Aachen University in Germany...
World Medical Association undermines conscience rights
The World Medical Association is largely toothless, but its policies matter. They can be used as a benchmark in bioethical debates in jurisdictions around the...
Is the Spanish government creating a black list of healthcare workers who are conscientious objectors?
Euthanasia became legal in Spain on 25 June 2021. An unusual feature of its law is that the Health Ministry is supposed to create a...
Do ‘conscientious providers’ matter more than ‘conscientious objectors’?
Dov Fox, an expert on health law and bioethics, has written a blistering attack on conscientious objection and a defence of “conscientious provision” in the...
Seeking an ethical way to support pro-abortion doctors in anti-abortion states
The landscape of conscientious objection has changed. Back in 2006, when abortion was legal across the United States in the decades after Roe v. Wade,...
Catholic hospital could be forced to perform gender-affirming surgery
The University of Maryland St Joseph Medical Center violated federal law when it refused to provide gender-affirming surgical care to a transgender man (ie, a...
World Medical Association protects conscientious objection by rejecting mandatory referral
Principled conscientious objection (CO) for health care workers is under threat from laws in several jurisdictions around the world. A number of prominent bioethicists have...
Should institutions enjoy freedom of conscience?
One of the most difficult issues in contemporary bioethics is “institutional freedom of conscience”. Should a healthcare facilities or nursing homes in a liberal democracy...
Conscientious objection is ‘indefensible’, says WHO
The latest abortion care guidelines from the World Health Organization severely criticise conscientious objection (CO) as a major obstacle to making abortion freely available. “Conscientious...
Ecuador’s President vows to veto abortion bill
The new president of Ecuador, Guillermo Lasso, declared this week that he will veto a bill that Congress is debating to regulate abortion in cases...
European Parliament opposes conscientious objection to abortion
The election of Roberta Metsola as president of the European Parliament has revived a debate on its position on abortion. She is the youngest-ever President...