Illiberal Liberty
Analysing the Hidden Harms of Conscientious Objections in Health Care Provision
Abstract
The right to conscientious objection, and the extent of the entitlements it grants to rights holders, has become progressively more controversial due to the growing range of contexts in which the right is asserted or defended and the corresponding growth in the range of persons making, and affected by, such claims. In this paper, I examine the extent to which a right to conscientious objection in health care is compatible with the liberal pluralist commitments upon which the right allegedly rests. I focus on conscientious objections to duties to participate in the provision of abortion and contraception and argue that granting health care providers exemptions to duties to participate in the provision of such services causes wrongful harm to women, even under idealized conditions designed to preserve access to these health care services.
Keywords: conscientious objection; abortion; contraception; liberal pluralism; rights to health care; ideological freedom.
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