 Many states provide alternatives to
active military service for conscientious objectors, but such policies have
never been understood to mean that military service is immoral. Similarly, a
protection of conscience law need have no impact on the dominant moral
outlook concerning procedures to which some people object.
A) Unfortunately, their record in this respect
indicates that they are unreliable. (See
Repression of Conscience). Moreover, many people are not members of
unions or professional associations.
A) Yes. But, in the first place, many workers
are not protected by collective agreements. More important, freedom of
conscience is not merely an employee benefit. It should be considered an
employee right, protected by legislation, lest unions actually bargain it
away in exchange for more vacation pay, for example, or higher overtime
A) They could result in some prosecutions at
first. But they should prevent litigation and prosecution by
discouraging coercive conduct. If problems arise, they are more likely to be
settled without going to court if people can refer to a single law. And
there should be fewer problems as time goes on and people learn their
A) This could only occur if large numbers of health
care workers refused to participate. In that case, it would be
appropriate to re-examine the nature of the procedure. A re-examination
might suggest, for example, that the procedure should be done only by
medical specialists, or only in certain facilities, or by specialists
outside traditional health care professions.
In fact, it is extremely unlikely that large numbers
of health care workers would refuse to participate in morally
non-controversial procedures that are actually beneficial for the patient.
That has not occurred in jurisdictions like the state of Illinois, U.S.A.,
which has a broadly worded protection of conscience statute. [See the
Health Care Right of Conscience Act.]
A) There are many medical services that
cannot, for economic reasons, be routinely provided in rural areas, and even
in small towns or cities. Such difficulties are usually resolved by visiting
specialists or by sending the patient for treatment at a central location.
What is done for reasons of economy could also be done for reasons of
conscience - if conscience is valued as highly as economics.
A) This kind of conflict can be prevented or
resolved by identifying, in advance, the performance of certain procedures
as a bona fide requirement of a position to be filled. PCLs can be
drafted to allow for such eventualities; the
Model Statute illustrates one way of doing this.
A) It has actually been an issue for many
years. It was considered in the drafting of the abortion law in the United
Kingdom in 1968, which includes a protection of conscience provision. However, in recent years the issue of
freedom of conscience in health care has come increasingly to the fore
because of pressures from activists who make aggressive rights and
exaggerated rights claims, and because of ethical
problems generated by advancing medical technologies and the lobbies for euthanasia and
A) The reason usually advanced to justify
coerced participation in sterilization, contraception, or abortion is that
the health care worker's 'personal values' must give way to the choice made
by the patient. The same reasoning is used to justify coerced participation in
various kinds of reproductive technologies, in euthanasia and in assisted
A) Yes. Two universities
in Belgium joined the Flemish Association and General in 2003 in a statement
asserting that physicians unwilling to provide euthanasis should help
patients find someone willing to provide the service. Since then, a
panel of the Royal Society of Canada and a legislative committee in the
province of Quebec, Canada have issued reports recommending legalization of
assisted suicide/euthanasia, and compulsory referral by objecting
Belgium: Mandatory Referral for Euthanasia]