Conscientious objection to abortion is the right of medical staff to refuse participation in abortion for personal belief.
Because of conscientious objection in some countries, even if abortion is legal, it is difficult for women to find non-objecting gynaecologists and thus to access abortion.
Because of conscientious objection in some countries, even if abortion is legal, it is difficult for women to find non-objecting gynaecologists and thus to access abortion.
By country
Americas
United States
Europe
Conscientious objection to abortion in selected European countries
Allowed
Not allowed
Conscientious objection is granted in 22 member states of the European Union plus the United Kingdom, Norway and Switzerland. It is not granted in Sweden, Finland, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, and Iceland.
The right of member states to enact legislation that limit the right to
conscientious objection to abortion was upheld by the European Court of
Human Rights in march 2020.
Croatia
Doctors and other medical personnel have the right to conscientious
objection. Rada Borić (Women's Network Croatia) has argued that it is
given more prominence than the women's right to abortion, thus making it
difficult. On February 21, 2017 the Constitutional Court ordered the Parliament
to enact new abortion law within two years, introducing educational and
preventive measures to make abortion an exception and not a rule, and
to regulate conscientious objection.
Hungary
In 2013 the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women of the United Nations
expressed concern about "the increasing resort to conscientious
objection by health professionals in the absence of an adequate
regulatory framework."
Ireland
Under section 22 of the Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018
medical practitioners, nurses and midwives have the right not to
participate in abortions, except when there is a risk to life or health
of the pregnant woman in emergency. They also have to make arrangements
to enable the woman to get an abortion.
Italy
The law gives the option for health professionals to claim the right to refuse to perform abortion. If the health personnel demands to be conscientious objector,
they have to declare it in advance (Art.9). However, conscientious
objection may not be invoked by health professionals if the personal
intervention is essential in order to save the life of a woman in
imminent danger.
Italy keeps a record of the objecting doctors. According to data
from the Ministry of Health, between 1997 and 2016 there was a 12.9%
increase in the number of gynecologists who refuse to perform abortions
on moral grounds, from 62.8% to 70.9%, the highest percentage ever
recorded. As of 2016 the percentage is higher than the national average
in Southern Italy (83.5%) and Sicily and Sardinia (77.7%), and lower in Central (70.1%) and Northern Italy (63.9%). The percentage is growing in all the macroregions
except the North. As a result, voluntary abortion is performed only in
60% of the hospitals of the country. Also, non-objecting doctors suffers
discrimination, and -in some provinces- needs to perform record-numbers
of abortions, up to 15.8 per week in the province of Taranto (Apulia) or 12.2 in the province of Catania (Sicily).
A resolution by the Council of Europe has found several violations of the European Social Charter in the situation:
- right to protection of health (art. 11) of women seeking abortion;
- right to work (art. 1) and to dignity at work (art. 26) of non-objecting medical practitioners, because of different treatment and moral harassment.
Poland
The Constitutional Tribunal
"abolished a requirement that medical professionals who refuse to
provide health services refer patients to an alternate medical
provider".
Portugal
Abortion was legalised in Portugal in 2007. The law allows conscientious objection and many doctors refuse to perform abortion, making it difficult for women to access it.
United Kingdom
In England and Wales and Scotland medical staff has the right to refuse to participate in abortion because of conscientious objection. Section 4 of the Abortion Act 1967 (which does not extend in Northern Ireland, where abortion is prohibited under most circumstances) states:
(1) Subject to subsection (2) of this section, no person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection:
Provided that in any legal proceedings the burden of proof of conscientious objection shall rest on the person claiming to rely on it.
(2) Nothing in subsection (1) of this section shall affect any duty to participate in treatment which is necessary to save the life or to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of a pregnant woman.
(3) In any proceedings before a court in Scotland, a statement on oath by any person to the effect that he has a conscientious objection to participating in any treatment authorised by this Act shall be sufficient evidence for the purpose of discharging the burden of proof imposed upon him by subsection (1) of this section.
