"Getting past the straw man of conscience as a religious artifact, the argument against medical conscientious objection is premised on the belief that the moral judgments of the individual must necessarily fall by the wayside in order to preserve the 'greater good' in the form of 'access to reproductive health services.'
"The moral problem with this position is neither a new one, nor a sectarian one. It is an argument that has been regarded as unsound going back to classical antiquity, and what Cicero called 'the first mandate of justice': that one not harm another person unless wounded by injury, and then that one use common things for the common good. Justice requires that a person is first obliged to do what is right himself, and then look to the common good. Just like any other moral agent, doctors should be allowed to adhere to this same moral standard in the application of their consciences."
— Michael Fragoso, from his excellent article on how attacks on doctors' conscientious objection are part of an international campaign to make abortion a basic human right. Read the whole thing.
