How Are Healthcare Providers Conscientiously Objecting to Abortion in Australia? A Qualitative Study
The findings demonstrated that conscientious objection provisions provided a flexible mechanism for healthcare providers to opt-out of providing abortion care at different times, in different contexts, and for different reasons (including reasons other than conscience). Education and guidelines may improve healthcare providers' understandings and interpretations of conscientious objection provisions. Destigmatizing interventions may also reduce the number of healthcare providers who refuse to participate in abortion care for conscience-based and non-conscience-based reasons.
Authors
- Louise Anne Keogh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2963-6451)
- Casey Michelle Haining (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9596-6654)
- Bronwen Merner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9263-362X)
- Julian Savulescu
- Lindy Willmott
Institutions
- Queensland University of Technology (AU)
- The University of Melbourne (AU)
- National University of Singapore (SG)
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute (AU)
- Melbourne Health (AU)
- Wellcome Centre for Ethics and Humanities (GB)
Publication Details
- Journal
- Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health
- Published
- 2026-02-11
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1111/psrh.70058
- Primary Topic
- Reproductive Health and Contraception
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin Research Institute
- Murdoch Children's Research Institute
- University of Melbourne