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CONSCIENTIOUS OBJECTION IN HEALTH CARE PROVISION - FOR SRO 19022018.pdf (380.38 kB)

Conscientious objection in health care provision: a new dimension

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journal contribution
posted on 2023-06-09, 12:14 authored by Peter West-OramPeter West-Oram, Alena Buyx
The right to conscientious objection in the provision of health care is the subject of a lengthy, heated and controversial debate. Recently, a new dimension was added to this debate by the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby et al. which effectively granted rights to freedom of conscience to private, for-profit corporations. In light of this paradigm shift, we examine one of the most contentious points within this debate, the impact of granting conscience exemptions to health care providers on the ability of women to enjoy their rights to reproductive autonomy. We argue that the exemptions demanded by objecting health care providers cannot be justified on the liberal, pluralist grounds on which they are based, and impose unjustifiable costs on both individual persons, and society as a whole. In doing so, we draw attention to a worrying trend in health care policy in Europe and the United States to undermine women’s rights to reproductive autonomy by prioritising the rights of ideologically motivated service providers to an unjustifiably broad form of freedom of conscience.

Funding

Emmy Noether Research Group grant; DeutscheForschungsgemeinschaft; BU 2450/1-2

History

Publication status

  • Published

File Version

  • Accepted version

Journal

Bioethics

ISSN

0269-9702

Publisher

Wiley

Issue

5

Volume

30

Page range

336-343

Department affiliated with

  • Clinical and Experimental Medicine Publications

Full text available

  • Yes

Peer reviewed?

  • Yes

Legacy Posted Date

2018-02-19

First Open Access (FOA) Date

2018-02-19

First Compliant Deposit (FCD) Date

2018-02-19

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