Croatia Adds to EU Push for Safe and Accessible Abortion

Vuk Tesija
December 12, 2025

Representatives of the opposition Social Democratic Party, SDP, on Friday received members of the My Voice My Choice initiative, which has collected 1.2 million signatures across the EU, prompting the European Parliament to vote next week on a resolution that would guarantee the right of every woman in member states to accessible and safe abortion.

The Vice President of parliament, Sabina Glasovac, and the President of the Gender Equality Committee, Marija Lugaric, met representatives of the initiative from Slovenia and Croatia after the collection of the 1.2 million signatures.

Continued: https://balkaninsight.com/2025/12/12/croatia-adds-to-eu-push-for-safe-and-accessible-abortion/

12.12.2025

News

conscientious objection

My Voice My Choice campaign

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

Pedro Sanchez is compiling a blacklist of anti-abortion doctors

15 October 2025
Mark Nayler

Pedro Sánchez, Spain’s Socialist prime minister, has demanded that the regions of Aragon, Asturias, the Balearic Islands and Madrid – most of which are governed by the Conservative People’s party (PP) – compile lists of doctors who refuse to perform pregnancy terminations. Isabel Díaz Ayuso, the PP president of Madrid, has refused to publish what she calls a ‘blacklist’. The move is part of Sanchez’s plan to make abortion a constitutional right, following the example set by France last year.

Abortion has been legal in Spain since 1985, and in 2010 the 12-week rule, which allowed women to receive pregnancy terminations without having to give a reason, was increased to 14 weeks.

https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/pedro-sanchez-is-compiling-a-blacklist-of-anti-abortion-doctors/

15.10.2025

Commentary

Alberto Núñez Feijóo

Association of Accredited Abortion Clinics

conscientious objection

Isabel Díaz Ayuso

Madrid College of Physicians

Manuel Martínez-Sellés

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

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

Commentary

belief-based care denial

conscientious objection

conscientious objectors

South Carolina providers push back against faith-based assaults on abortion care

by Emma Akpan
August 14, 2025

… In January 2025, five doctors sued the state of South Carolina against the 2023 Heartbeat Law, which prohibits abortions after a fetal heartbeat can be detected, or after about nine weeks. Their lawsuit is particularly important, as the Heartbeat Law was instrumental in the state Supreme Court's decision to uphold the six-week abortion ban. For these doctors, not only is the decision devastating for patients, but exemplifies why anti-abortion advocates, lawmakers, and religious leaders should not be allowed to use their faith to implement a life-threatening law that doctors must unquestionably follow.

The plaintiffs have therefore inverted faith-based pro-life logic by counter-arguing the questions: Don't doctors who need to administer abortions get to use their faith to challenge such laws? And if the other side can claim conscientiousness to prohibit abortion, then why can't doctors claim conscientiousness to protect their right to perform abortions?

Continued: https://scalawagmagazine.org/2025/08/south-carolina-providers-push-back-against-faith-based-assaults-on-abortion-care/

South Korea – Pros and cons of physicians’ right to refuse abortion procedures discussed at forum

Kim Jung-hyun
7 Aug 2025

Six years after Korea's abortion ban was ruled unconstitutional, renewed calls are emerging to grant doctors the right to refuse to perform abortion procedures.

Proponents argue that medical professionals should be allowed to opt out of performing abortions based on personal conscience, beliefs, or religious convictions.

Continued: https://www.koreabiomed.com/news/articleView.html?idxno=28532