Queensland Australia - Abortion and Conscientious Objection
This guest blog post was provided by Dr. Alex Deagon , FHEA, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Law, Queensland University of Technology.) On 17th October 2018 the Queensland Parliament passed the Termination of Pregnancy Bill 2018 (Qld). This law will, among other things, allow abortion on demand up to 22 weeks’ gestation, and abortion up to full term if approved by two independent doctors who agree it is appropriate taking into account all the circumstances. Setting aside for one moment the significant objections to the primary function of this legislation in general, a major point of contention with the bill was the extent to which health practitioners are able to refrain from providing abortion services because they have a conscientious objection. Conscientious objections in this context are not merely idle and whimsical. For example, many Christians disagree with abortion because they deem it to be the intentional killing of a developing human person, a unique, special creation of God