Abstract
BackgroundThe Constitutional Court of South Korea declared that an abortion ban was unconstitutional on April 11, 2019. The National Health Care System will provide abortion care across the country as a formal medical service. Conscientious objection is an issue raised during the construction of legal reforms.MethodsOne hundred sixty-seven perioperative nurses responded to the survey questionnaire. Nurses’ perception about conscientious objection, support of legislation regarding conscientious objection, and intention to object were measured. Logistic regression was used to explore the factors associated with support of the legislation and the intention to conscientiously object.ResultsOnly 28.8% of the responding nurses were aware of health care professionals’ conscientious objection. The majority (68.7%) felt that patients’ rights should be prioritized over health care professionals’ conscientious objection. On the other hand, 45.8% supported the legislation on conscientious objection to abortion, and 42.5% indicated a willingness to refuse to participate in an abortion case if conscientious objection was permitted. Religion, awareness of conscientious objection, and prioritizing of nurses’ right to conscientious objection were significantly associated with supporting the legislation. Moreover, religion and prioritizing nurses' rights were significantly associated with the intention to conscientiously object.ConclusionsThis study provides information necessary for further discussion of nurses’ conscientious objection. Nursing leaders, researchers, and educators should appeal to nurses and involve them in making policies that balance a women's right to non-discrimination and to receiving appropriate care with nurses' rights to maintain their moral integrity without compromising their professional obligation.
Highlights
The Constitutional Court of South Korea declared that an abortion ban was unconstitutional on April 11, 2019
Throughout this process, the National Health Care System will provide abortion care across the country as a formal medical service. This indicates that many health care providers in hospitals and clinics who have never been involved with abortion because it was performed covertly in a limited number of clinics will face abortion cases for the first time in their workplaces
Measurements Prior to inquiring about the nurses’ perceptions of and ideas about Conscientious objection (CO), we provided information about CO regarding abortion care because this was unfamiliar to the majority of the nurses
Summary
The Constitutional Court of South Korea declared that an abortion ban was unconstitutional on April 11, 2019. The National Health Care System will provide abortion care across the country as a formal medical service. On April 11, 2019, the Constitutional Court of South Korea ruled that the criminalization of abortion is unconstitutional [1]. Health Act. The Government is working to support law making and to align policies and regulations implementing the new ruling while researching public opinions. The Government is working to support law making and to align policies and regulations implementing the new ruling while researching public opinions Throughout this process, the National Health Care System will provide abortion care across the country as a formal medical service. The number of annual abortions covertly performed is estimated at 50,000 cases, 90% of which are surgical abortions [4]
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