---

Home
About the Project
Site Map
Conferences, etc.
What You Can Do
Victim Worksheet
Model Statute
FAQ's
Contact Us

---

Repression
Issues in Depth
Conscience Laws
Proposed Laws
Papers-Policies
Media
Research
Links

---

Issues In Depth
Background

Circumstances Leading to Conflicts of Conscience

Attitudes, professional and public expectations, and technological developments frequently contribute to an environment in which conflicts of conscience are more likely to arise.

Society & Politics

• 2010
• 2009

Procedures and Services

• Abortion
• Artificial Reproduction
• Assisted Suicide
  Birth Control Services
• Education & Practice
• Embryonic Experimentation
• Eugenic Testing
• Euthanasia
• Human Experimentation
• Inter-Species Breeding
• Tissue Trafficking
• Torture

General Science

Conflicts of conscience are frequently portrayed as arising from ignorance of "scientific facts".  On the contrary: good science is indispensable for the correct formation of conscientious judgement.

---

 

SOCIETY & POLITICS

2010

• Objectors shouldn't work in emergency rooms: Massachusetts Attorney General rejects accommodation of religious freedom

2009

• The Right of Conscience in the Age of Obama
  
  
• A Matter of Conscience: Obama weakens protections for medical professionals opposed to abortion.
  

---

PROCEDURES AND SERVICES

Abortion

2005-2009

• Religious discrimination in the selection of medical students: a case study
   
• Experiences of Christian Medical & Dental Associations Members (USA)
   
• Forced abortions and sterilizations in China (March-July, 2005)

2000-2004

• Concluding observations of the Human Rights Committee: Poland. (UN, Geneva,Switzerland: November, 2004)
   

• Are Pro-Life Healthcare Providers Becoming an Endangered Species? (USA. 2003)
   

• Testimony of Pharmacist Noesen Re: Wisconsin Assembly  Bill 63 (Wisconsin, USA. March, 2003)
   

• Medical Students for Choice: Pro-choice group at UBC (British Columbia, Canada. October, 2002)
   

• Accommodating Conscience (Canada.  October, 2002)
   

• No Place for Abortion in African Traditional Life - Some Reflections (2002)
   

• Canadian International Aid Tied to Abortion, Charges Doctor
   

• General practice docs and obstetrics (British Columbia, Canada.  September, 2002)
   

• A national battle over healthcare ethics threatens to put any conscience-guided Doctor in the Lions’ Den (2001)
   

• The Obstetric-Gynaecological Practice in the Czech Republic during the Communist Regime and in the Present Days (1980-2001)
   

• MD's, Pharmacists should follow conscience (Alberta, British Columbia, Canada, June 2001)
   

• Chinese hospital workers divided over attempts to kill abortion survivor (Heilongjiang province,China, April-May 2001)
   

• Pro-life OB-GYNs Left Out in the Cold:  MaterCare Founder Robert Walley Hopes to Change That (May, 2001)
   

• Conscientious Objection to Abortion (United Kingdom, 2001)
   

• Conscientious Objection in Ireland (May, 2000)
   

• Morning-after pill poses moral dilemma for some MDs (St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada)(2000)
   

• United Nations, US officials acting oppressively in East Timor (East Timor) (2000)
   

• Life Support, Anyone?  Pro-Life Physician Answers the Challenge (Los Angeles, California) (1999-2000)

1995-1999

• Abortion and Conscientious Objection (United Kingdom, 1999)
   

• Born alive, left to die (Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.) (1999)

• Court orders abortion, sterilization (Province of Quebec, Canada) (1999)
   

• United Nations Committee: Conscientious Objection "an infringement of. . . rights"

1990-1994

• Bishop protests on behalf of nurses (Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada)(1997)
   

• Are State Doctors in the Western Cape willing to implement the Choice of Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1996? An opinion survey conducted in the Western Cape in November 1997.
   

• South Africa Changes Abortion Law (1996-97)
   

• Abortion and Conscientious Objection (United Kingdom)(1996)
   

• Lacunae in Conscience: Address to the Civil Liberties Section B.C. Bar Association, (British Columbia, Canada)(1990)

1985-1989

• Baby left to die at Vancouver General Hospital (Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada) (1985)

Artificial Reproduction

• Experiences of Christian Medical & Dental Associations Members (USA)
   

• Controversies in Operating Reproductive Health Services (Chile, 2001)
   

• Human embryos are 'reproductive material' (Canada) (1999)

Assisted Suicide

• The Case of the Disappearing Plaintiffs: Robert Baxter et al vs. State of Montana (Montana, USA, 2008-2009)
  

• Conscience Situation OK - For Now (Oregon, USA, Sept., 2005)
  

• Are Pro-Life Healthcare Providers Becoming an Endangered Species? (USA. 2003)
  

• Testimony of Pharmacist Noesen Re: Wisconsin Assembly  Bill 63 (Wisconsin, USA.  March,, 2003)
  

• (Assisted Suicide: What Role for Nurses? (USA, 2000)
  

• Chief Justice favours assisted suicide, willing to order assistance (Canada) (1993)

Birth Control Services

• Plan to Ensure Pill Access Worrying Pro-Life Pharmacists (USA, Sept., 2006)
  

• Contraception for the Unmarried
  

• Pharmacists’ Lawsuits Highlight ‘Right of Conscience’ Rift
  

• Conscience Situation OK - For Now (Oregon, USA, Sept., 2005)
  

• Pharmacists Battling Lawsuits Over Conscience Issues (USA, 2005)
  

• Are Pro-Life Healthcare Providers Becoming an Endangered Species? (USA. 2003)
  

• Testimony of Pharmacist Noesen Re: Wisconsin Assembly  Bill 63 (Wisconsin, USA.  March, 2003)
  

• Compulsory Choice (United States, January, 2003)
   
• Pro-life pharmacist thought she'd be blacklisted (British Columbia, Canada.  January, 2003
   

• General practice docs and obstetrics (British Columbia, Canada.  September, 2002)
  

• Controversies in Operating Reproductive Health Services (Chile, 2001)
  

• The Particular Witness of a Catholic Obstetrician and Gynaecologist: A Sign of Contradiction in the Culture of Death (2001)
  

• Pro-life OB-GYNs Left Out in the Cold:  MaterCare Founder Robert Walley Hopes to Change That (May, 2001)
   
• MD's, Pharmacists should follow conscience (Alberta, British Columbia, Canada, June 2001)
   
• A national battle over healthcare ethics threatens to put any conscience-guided Doctor in the Lions’ Den (2001)
   

• Morning-after pill poses moral dilemma for some MDs (St. Catherines, Ontario, Canada) (2000)
  

• City Council Refuses Conscience Clause (Washington, D.C., U.S.A.) (2000)
  

• Court orders sterilization of woman (Province of Quebec, Canada) (1999)

Education and Practice

• Pharmacists with a Conscience Need Not Apply
   

• The Training of Obstetricians: a Resident's View (Europe, 2001)
   

• Conscientious Objection on the Socio-Political Background of Ethical Relativism (Switzerland, 2001)
   

• The Situation in Switzerland in General and a Casuistic Report (Europe, 2001)
   

• Changes in the Practice of Obstetrics and Gynaecology:
  25 Years of Practice in the USA (2001)
   

• The Particular Witness of a Catholic Obstetrician and Gynaecologist: A Sign of Contradiction in the Culture of Death (2001)
   

• Controversies in Operating Reproductive Health Services (Chile, 2001)

Embryonic Experimentation

Eugenic testing

• Doctor sued for birth of Down Syndrome child (Somerville, New Jersey, U.S.A.) (1999)

Euthanasia

• Belgium: mandatory referral for euthanasia (December, 2003)
   

• Are Pro-Life Healthcare Providers Becoming an Endangered Species? (USA. 2003)
   

• Testimony of Pharmacist Noesen Re: Wisconsin Assembly  Bill 63 (Wisconsin, USA.  March, 2003)
   

• Edmonton Hospitals Suspected of Euthanasia (Edmonton, Alberta, Canada) (2001)
   

• A national battle over healthcare ethics threatens to put any conscience-guided Doctor in the Lions’ Den (2001)
   

• British Medical Association permits causing death by dehydration  (United Kingdom )(1999)
   

• From Abortion to Euthanasia: Nurses on the Spot (British Columbia, Canada)
   

• What will courts order? (Province of Quebec, Canada) (1999)

Human experimentation

Inter-species breeding

Tissue trafficking

• Testimony of Wang Guoql (China)  (2001)
   

• Wholesale enterprise supplies researchers (Canada & U.S.A.) (1999)

Torture

Psychologists and Abusive Interrogations: Acting on Conscience

---

GENERAL SCIENCE

Dianne N. Irving, M.A., Ph.D.

• When do Human Beings Begin? "Scientific" Myths and Scientific Facts
   
• A One-Act Drama: The Early Human Embryo: 'Scientific' Myths and Scientific Facts:  Implications for Ethics and Public Policy
   

• Scientific and Philosophical Expertise: An Evaluation of the Arguments on "Personhood"