Background: General Pharmaceutical Council standards (UK) state 'pharmacy professionals have the right to practise in line with their religion, personal values or beliefs as long as they …make sure that person-centred care is not compromised', indicating a potential conflict for pharmacists who wish to exercise their right to conscientious objection (CO) to abortion while maintaining a duty of care to their patients.
Objective: The objective of this study was to explore pharmacists' views of conscientious objection to abortion and whether this included the supply of EC and the impact on practice.
Method: Eighteen UK pharmacists were interviewed using semistructured interviews. Interviews were transcribed verbatim, imported into NVivo11 and analysed using thematic analysis.
Key Findings: Five themes were identified: beliefs as to what constitutes abortion, influences on beliefs, conflicts of conscience, accommodating conscience and professional obligations. Views were polarised in relation to the role of emergency contraception (EC) as an abortifacient. Religion was often viewed as the reason underpinning CO to abortion. Conflicts in relation to CO to abortion included the role of referral and EC and employability for objectors. Some pharmacists viewed their role of providing patient choice as incompatible with the right of CO to abortion.
Conclusions: This study shows the conflicts and challenges surrounding CO to abortion in professional pharmacy practice. While the majority of pharmacists believe CO to abortion should and could be accommodated, this can prove challenging in certain working environments, both in relation to ensuring a duty of care to patients is upheld and due to the ongoing debate concerning EC and whether it has a definitive role in abortion or not.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ijpp/riab009 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Conscientious Objection in Healthcare: The Requirement of Justification, The Moral Threshold, and Military Refusals.
J Relig Ethics
March 2024
Institute of Philosophy at Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Poland) and head of the Interdisciplinary Centre for Ethics at Jagiellonian University, where he leads the project BIOUNCERTAINTY funded by a European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant.
A dogma accepted in many ethical, religious, and legal frameworks is that the reasons behind conscientious objection (CO) in healthcare cannot be evaluated or judged by any institution because conscience is individual and autonomous. This paper shows that this background view is mistaken: the requirement to reveal and explain the reasons for conscientious objection in healthcare is ethically justified and legally desirable. Referring to real healthcare cases and legal regulations, this paper argues that these reasons should be evaluated either ex ante or ex post and defends novel conceptual claims that have not been analyzed in the debates on CO.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPotential profiles of caregivers' benefit finding in ischaemic stroke: The role of personality traits and coping styles.
Acta Psychol (Amst)
January 2025
Department of [Neurology], First Affiliated Hospital of Bengbu Medical University, No. 287, Chang huai Road, Zhihua Street, Long zi hu District, Bengbu City, Anhui Province, China.
Objective: To investigate the different categories of benefit finding among caregivers of patients with ischemic stroke and the mechanisms of personality and coping styles using an individual-centered approach.
Methods: A cross-sectional survey was conducted among 235 caregivers of patients with ischemic stroke in the neurology departments of three tertiary hospitals in Bengbu using the revised Inventory of Illness Benefit, the Short Form of the Chinese Big Five Personality Inventory, and the Simplified Coping Style Questionnaire.
Results: The benefit finding of caregivers of patients with ischemic stroke could be categorized into three latent classes: "Low sense of benefit-low personal growth group " (n = 58, 24.
Experience of Contraceptive Denial, Perceived Ease of Future Access to Contraception, and Adverse Mental Health Outcomes in Polish Women.
Int J Womens Health
January 2025
Department of Environmental Health, Faculty of Health Sciences, Jagiellonian University Medical College, Krakow, Poland.
Purpose: While several studies demonstrate an association between reproductive coercion or a lack of reproductive autonomy and decreased mental health in women, little is known about potential mental health impacts when women are denied prescription contraceptives. The aim of this research was to explore associations between prescription contraceptive denial and perceived ease of future access to contraception, and self-assessed mental health.
Patients And Methods: Polish women (N=424) completed an anonymous online survey with demographic questions; perceived stress (PSS-10), state anxiety (STAI-X1), and depression (CESD-R) assessments, and contraceptive access questions.
Voluntary Assisted Dying and Conscientious Objection: An Analysis from Victoria, Australia.
J Law Med
November 2024
Associate Professor, Monash University Faculty of Law; Deputy Director, Castan Centre for Human Rights Law.
This article analyses qualitative empirical research conducted by this author to gain a deeper understanding of the rationale behind conscientious objection (CO) to voluntary assisted dying (VAD) and its impact on the operation of VAD in Victoria, Australia. It begins by providing an overview of the Australian legal approach to CO in the context of VAD. It then discusses the spectrum of attitudes that exist towards VAD, illuminating some of the nuance and complexity of the individual and institutional approaches.
View Article and Find Full Text PDF"To Be or Not to Be" a Conscientious Objector to Voluntary Abortion: An Italian Web-Survey of Healthcare Workers.
Medicina (Kaunas)
December 2024
Department of Translational Medicine, University of Piemonte Orientale, Gynecology and Obstetrics, 'Maggiore della Carità' Hospital, 28100 Novara, Italy.
: Conscientious objection to voluntary abortion remains a hot debate topic. This could affect the accessibility to pregnancy termination. Our aim is to evaluate the possible aspects related to an operators' choice about objection for voluntary abortion, such as the following: the abolition of the time limit, the instruction of a multi-collegiate commission, the introduction of pharmacological rather than surgical procedures, the fetal/maternal illness and the case of sexual violence.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!