Refusal of Care Laws Put Providers’ Personal Beliefs Ahead of Patient Well-Being

April 3, 2026
National Women’s Law Center

Health care is a basic human right, and everyone deserves access to the care they need. Yet across the nation, health care facilities and providers are refusing to give patients care, information, and referrals based on personal objections rather than patient needs. State and federal laws – known as refusal laws – allow such refusals, emboldening hospitals and individual health care providers to use personal beliefs to deny patients’ care, even if their refusals result in harm to patients.

Continued: https://nwlc.org/resource/refusal-of-care-laws-put-providers-personal-beliefs-ahead-of-patient-well-being/

Could a registry of doctors who refuse abortions improve access in Spain?

By Léa Marchal, Brussels
13 March 2026
Podcast – 6 minutes, with transcript

In Spain, abortion is back in the political and legal spotlight.

A court ruling has just ordered the city of Madrid to create a registry of conscientious objectors. These are doctors in the region who refuse to perform abortion procedures.

Continued: https://euobserver.com/206829/listen-could-a-registry-of-doctors-who-refuse-abortions-improve-access-in-spain/

13.03.2026

Interviews/Podcasts

belief-based care denial

conscientious objection

conscientious objectors

European Social Fund Plus

Isabel Díaz Ayuso

registry of conscientious objectors

Europe

Spain

Human Rights

NSW guidelines proposed to prevent hospitals from refusing abortion care based on personal beliefs

Lucy Barbour
Dec 11, 2025

Hospital managers and executives would be barred from blocking abortions because of personal beliefs, under new guidelines proposed for public health services across New South Wales.

A draft copy of the "termination of pregnancy policy directive", obtained by the ABC, includes a new section that specifically deals with conscientious objection among those managing and administering health and hospital services.

Continued : https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-12-12/document-reveals-plan-to-limit-blocking-of-abortions/106091562

11.12.2025

News

Amanda Cohn

belief-based care denial

conscientious objection

MSI Australia

Orange Health Service

Pregnancy Options Care and Support Service

Madrid Refuses to Create Registry of Doctors Who Refuse Abortions Despite Government Pressure

Regional authorities will not draw up lists of doctors opposing abortion: decisions left to the courts

Ricardo Rubio
Nov 15, 2025

The authorities of the Autonomous Community of Madrid have decided not to create a special registry of medical professionals who, for personal beliefs, are unwilling to perform abortions. This move comes in response to a requirement from the central government, which previously gave one month for the formation of such lists in several regions, including Madrid, Aragón, and the Balearic Islands.

The regional administration stated it does not intend to single out or label either patients or doctors involved in abortion procedures. According to Madrid government officials, such lists could infringe on the rights of both women and medical professionals, and risk undermining anonymity and freedom of choice.

Continued: https://russpain.com/en/news-3/madrid-refuses-to-create-abortion-objector-doctor-registry-despite-government-demands-326522/

15.11.2025

News

belief-based care denial

conscientious objection

list of objectors

registry of objectors

Europe: Existing barriers to abortion access compounded by alarming attempts to roll back reproductive rights

6 November 2025
Amnesty International

European governments must act to ensure equal and universal access to abortion care in the face of ongoing restrictions and intensifying efforts to further limit access to abortion across the region, said Amnesty International in a report published today.

When rights aren’t real for all: The struggle for abortion access in Europe reveals how – despite hard won progress – harmful and dangerous obstacles continue to undermine access to abortion care. This is taking place in the context of increasingly well-resourced anti-rights groups ramping up their efforts to negatively influence policies and laws, often through the spread of fear and disinformation, aimed at further restricting access to abortion.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/11/europe-existing-barriers-to-abortion-access-compounded-by-alarming-attempts-to-roll-back-reproductive-rights/

06.11.2025

Commentary

Amnesty International

belief-based care denial

Monica Costa Riba

When rights aren’t real for all: The struggle for abortion access in Europe

Why Public Hospitals in Spain Rarely Perform Abortions: Surprising Figures and Facts

Spanish Regional Budgets Spent 150 Million Euros on Abortions in Private Clinics

Ricardo Rubio
Oct 11, 2025

Over the past five years, Spain’s autonomous communities have allocated at least 150 million euros to fund abortions in private medical centers. This measure was forced by the inability of public hospitals to handle the volume of such procedures. In 2024, more than 106,000 terminations of pregnancy were performed in the country, with only one fifth taking place in public facilities.

In some regions, such as Madrid and Andalusia, the share of abortions performed in public hospitals was minimal—less than one percent. In the capital region, more than 162,000 such procedures were registered over a decade, but only 177 were carried out in public clinics. This disparity is due not only to a lack of resources, but also because many doctors refuse to participate in such procedures on personal grounds.

Continued: https://russpain.com/en/news-3/spanish-regional-budgets-spent-150-million-euros-on-abortions-in-private-clinics-299916/

11.10.2025

News

belief-based care denial

conscientious objection

Europe

Spain

Clinical

USA – Catholic Hospital Mergers Pose Growing Threat to Abortion Access

Center for American Progress
Sep 29, 2025

Washington, D.C. — By 2020, at least 1 in 6 U.S. hospital beds were located in Catholic hospitals. While consolidation has been increasing in American health care, Catholic health care providers are uniquely constrained by religious directives that restrict contraception access, abortion, gender-affirming care, fertility treatments, and other forms of lifesaving reproductive health care.

As the market share of Catholic hospital networks continues to grow, patients are left with fewer choices, charged higher prices, and forced to face greater challenges in accessing high-quality reproductive care. A new report from the Center for American Progress discusses this aspect of health care consolidation and recommends policies to slow consolidation, increase transparency, and protect patients’ access to care.

Continued: https://www.americanprogress.org/press/release-catholic-hospital-mergers-pose-growing-threat-to-abortion-access/

29.09.2025

Research

Barak Richman

belief-based care denial

Catholic directives

Catholic hospitals

Center for American Progress

Federal Trade Commission

Australia – The public hospital patients who ended up paying abortion clinics for miscarriage care

By Emma Pollard
Monday 22 September

Women having miscarriages say they were denied surgical care at the public Mater Mothers’ Hospital in Brisbane because of its religious policies on abortion.

Two women have told ABC News they ended up going to an abortion clinic because the Catholic-run hospital, which receives some taxpayer funding, would not provide them with a surgical procedure when they were having what’s called a missed miscarriage.

Continued; https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-09-23/qld-mater-miscarriage-care-catholic-hospital-abortion/105781022

Australia – Can a hospital hold a conscience?

22 September 2025
Jasmine Davis

When I first entered medical school and heard the term “conscientious objection”, I was slightly confused. Having been a war history enthusiast in high school, a conscientious objector to me had always been associated with individuals refusing military service.

I quickly learned from ethics tutorials in medical school that the term had moved from the battlefields to our hospitals. In the context of reproductive healthcare (most often abortion), and now voluntary assisted dying (VAD), conscientious objection occurs when a doctor or other healthcare provider refuses to participate in these practices due to ethical, moral or philosophical beliefs.

Continued; https://insightplus.mja.com.au/2025/37/can-a-hospital-hold-a-conscience/

22.09.2025

Commentary

belief-based care denial

conscientious objection

hospitals and care denial

institutional conscientious objection

Jasmine Davis

United Nations Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls

voluntary assisted dying

Conscientious objection and the fight for abortion access in Italy

20 September, 2025
Monia, Workers Liberty (translated by Nelsey)

Some may take it for granted that, just because there are laws in place that protect people, our basic rights are generally safe across the board. But in 2025 we still find ourselves having to fight for the same hard-won rights that others, in other historical moments, once struggled so hard for.

Take abortion, for example. While it is legal in most – but not all – of the world, access is still heavily restricted. This is certainly the case in Italy.

Continued: https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2025-09-20/conscientious-objection-and-fight-abortion-access-italy

21.09.2025