Book at Lunchtime: Rethinking Conscientious Objection in Health Care
Oxford University Press
Date
Wednesday 18 February 2026, lunch is served at 12.30pm, with the discussion beginning at 12.45pm.
Venue
Seminar Room 00.063, Schwarzman Centre for the Humanities, Oxford, OX2 6GG
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Description
Societies around the world are becoming increasingly multicultural, while the range of new or controversial medical procedures that are available to patients also grows. This has led to an increase in claims from healthcare professionals regarding their right to abide by their own moral or religious views and refuse a long list medical interventions or drugs. This list includes abortions, euthanasia, access to contraceptives, sterilizations, cosmetic surgery, and many others. Depending on circumstances, these interventions might or might not be consistent with professional standards; however, when deciding whether to provide them, many doctors would rely on their own conscientious views about the morality of each case instead of professional standards. As societies become more pluralistic and the range of medical options continues to grow, it is inevitable that the problem of conscientious objection in healthcare will as well.
Rethinking Conscientious Objection in Health Care presents the case against the right of healthcare professionals to refuse delivery of certain healthcare services based on their moral views. It provides philosophical analyses of conscience and freedom of conscience, as well as the arguments and principles typically utilized when arguing in favor of allowing healthcare professionals conscientious objection. The authors criticize those arguments and offer a philosophical and historical analysis of the concept of professionalism, as well as an appeal to the nature of professional obligations, to build their case against the right to conscientious objection in healthcare. They explain why arguments for pluralism, tolerance, and diversity which support a right to freedom of conscience in society at large do not necessarily support the same right within the healthcare profession, or indeed any profession that is governed by internal norms of professionalism which an individual freely decides to enter.
About the book
Giubilini, A., Savulescu, J., Schuklenk, U. and Minerva, F., (2025), 'Rethinking Conscientious Objection in Health Care', (Oxford University Press).
Freely available to read and download under the terms of a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. We acknowledge support of the Wellcome Trust for funding Open Access under grant WT203132 (Oxford Centre for Ethics & Humanities).
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1093/9780197786567.001.0001 | Online ISBN: 9780197786567 | Print ISBN: 978019778653
