Those of us who received the letter calling us up for compulsory military service (the Mili) know perfectly well what conscientious objection is. It was a way of defending our deepest principles and not being forced to shoot a CETME rifle at a potential enemy whom you did not know and who had done nothing to you. It was a concrete way of exercising your personal ethics, shaped by your own experiences and beliefs. This “legitimate pacifism,» in a way, ended up being a way to avoid military service through alternative social service, which meant fulfilling the civic duty of every citizen by performing any necessary service to society.
In 2016, the Oscar-winning film Hacksaw Ridge, directed by Mel Gibson, was released, giving us a better understanding of what it meant to be a conscientious objector in war. Based on real events, it tells the true story of soldier Desmond Doss, who, due to his religious beliefs, refused to use violence or shoot at the enemy. This groundbreaking stance, highly unusual in American society, took time to be understood. But this soldier was awarded the Medal of Honor by President Harry S. Truman in real life, after suffering ridicule and humiliation for defending his principles. However, conscientious objection is not limited to the military sector; it extends to any place where we can act on a moral decision that arises from our conscience.
This right has become a hot topic in the healthcare sector, given that many doctors in the public health system do not want to perform abortions. Recently, the Ministry of Health approved the “protocol for the creation of a register of conscientious objectors to voluntary termination of pregnancy,” with the intention of recruiting doctors to perform this procedure in the public system, through a mandatory list of conscientious objectors. Ayuso has decided not to draw up this list in Madrid and not to send it, which has led to the launch of an administrative dispute that the ministry will initiate, as announced by Mónica García, against the Community of Madrid. Leaving aside the regulation and the controversy, getting to the heart of the matter raises several questions: Why is it necessary to register objectors if abortion is free and real in Spain, and 106,172 abortions were performed in 2024? Why is there a desire to force doctors who object to register, but not those who do want to perform abortions, as is the case with doctors who do want to practice euthanasia? Can't these doctors be incentivized, if there is so much interest?
78.74% of voluntary terminations of pregnancy (VTP) in Spain were performed in private centers (with public funds), because there are not enough doctors in the public system who are willing to perform them. And that is not well regarded; they want doctors to come from the public system. But that does not mean that the freedom of conscientious objectors should be restricted. On the contrary, isn't pointing out doctors who do not want to perform this violent obstetric procedure, by means of a list, like pointing out the “traitors” to the system that the ministry wants to impose, as if they were Jews marked in the Nazi persecution, when the neighbors in a neighborhood marked the homes of Semites they wanted to denounce with a Star of David? Although it is not public information, politically within the ministry the data can be used.
Abortion is not a “pleasant” experience, certainly not for the woman who finds herself in this difficult situation, but neither is it for the doctor who has to perform it. Just as the patient is free to make her own decision, the doctor must have the same freedom. Perhaps even more so in their case, due to the Hippocratic Oath, as it is the specific way to act conscientiously and professionally, without being coerced, exercising the right not to be violated in such a delicate situation.
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