Dobbs v Jackson Women’s Health Organization and doctors’ conscientious commitment to provide abortion
Alberto Giubilini, University of Oxford
Udo Schuklenk, Queen’s University
Francesca Minerva, University of Milan
Julian Savulescu, National University of Singapore and University of Oxford
(reposted from the Journal of Medical Ethics Blog )
The reversal of the 1973 Roe v Wade ruling by the US Supreme Court in the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization removed the Constitutional protection of women’s right to access abortion services in the US. This decision has resulted in renewed interest in the morality of conscientious commitment by health care professionals to provide abortion care.
Typically, ethical debates on conscience in health care revolve around the morality of doctors refusing to provide professional services on idiosyncratic personal conscience claims. Here the issue is different in that conscientious doctors, motivated by a commitment to professional values, might want to provide services that are arguably in their patients’ best interest, but that are illegal.