In an increasingly diverse society, conscience rights are more important than ever. But they constantly need to be defended. The most urgent example is the current proposals put forward by the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC).
If you are a pharmacist with ethical objections to abortion or contraception, the GPhC’s current professional standards allow you to inform the “relevant people or authorities” and refer patients to other providers. Naturally, such an expectation of referral poses its own, very real ethical problems. But under the proposed changes, pharmacists will not even be given these minimal conscience rights.
