Category: Conscience Rights

By Michael Cook Euthanasia became legal in Spain on June 25, 2021. An unusual feature of its law is that the Health Ministry is supposed to create a public register of doctors who refuse to participate in the process of ending a patient’s life. Doctors in Spain who are conscientious objectors are complaining that this risks …

By Michael Cook Euthanasia became legal in Spain on June 25, 2021. An unusual feature of its law is that the Health Ministry is supposed to create a public register of doctors who refuse to participate in the process of ending a patient’s life. Doctors in Spain who are conscientious objectors are complaining that this risks …

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition A New Mexico doctor has launched a court case to protect the conscience rights of physicians who oppose assisted suicide. New Mexico legalized assisted suicide in 2021 by passing of Bill HB 47 with the law coming into effect on June 18, 2021. The New Mexico assisted suicide law …

By Alex Schadenberg, Executive Director, Euthanasia Prevention Coalition A New Mexico doctor has launched a court case to protect the conscience rights of physicians who oppose assisted suicide. New Mexico legalized assisted suicide in 2021 by passing of Bill HB 47 with the law coming into effect on June 18, 2021. The New Mexico assisted suicide law …

By Wesley J. Smith Coercion is becoming ubiquitous in medicine. Doctors, nurses, and pharmacists who oppose morally contentions medical procedures are increasingly being forced to choose between remaining in their professions and violating their deepest-held religious beliefs. Take the new “Voluntary Assisted Dying Bill of 2021” just passed in Queensland, Australia. The law authorizes doctors …

Everywhere conscientious objection is under attack. Here’s one small victory. By Michael Cook 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 attacked the idea of refusing to participate in euthanasia or abortion as unethical. “A doctors’ conscience has …

By Michael Cook 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 be permitted to eschew practices like abortion or assisted suicide and euthanasia? One of the strongest objections against legislation passed last week in the Australian state of …

By Jonathan Imbody    If you are a health professional who follows the Hippocratic oath’s proscription against abortion, should a government-funded hospital be allowed to coerce you to participate in abortions against your professional ethics and personal conscience? Nurse Cathy DeCarlo faced just such coercion, despite her agreement with a hospital that she would not …