According to a law that went into effect on 1 September, Spanish physicians may not provide health care for undocumented migrants except in cases of emergency, pregnancy, or delivery. The Spanish Society of Family and Community Medicine (SEMFyC), supported by the Spanish Medical Colleges, holds that the law is contrary to medical ethics and is advising physicians to become “conscientious objectors” to the law. [Hastings Center Bioethics Forum]
The Society calls this “conscientious objection,” but it can be understood in two ways: as conscientious objection to the law, or as an exercise of perfective freedom of conscience in providing rather than in refusing to provide a service. [See Notes toward an understanding of freedom of conscience]