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Abstract

In medicine, conscientious objection refers to the refusal of health care professionals to provide certain services due to ethical, moral, or religious beliefs. Though often unrecognized, the practice of conscientious objection is commonplace in Illinois, a state with a significant presence of Catholic hospitals and legal clauses protecting health care professionals who refuse to provide reproductive care. Contraceptive access in Illinois has become increasingly complicated by Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, a 2022 U.S. Supreme Court landmark decision which retracted the previously held federal constitutional right to abortion. This study contributes to the growing body of literature on conscientious objection to reproductive care by constructing a landscape of contraceptive access in Illinois after Dobbs. Interviews were conducted with fifteen health care providers and scholars of various fields in reproductive health. Relevant themes were analyzed in the context of racial, socioeconomic, and geographical disparities in contraceptive access. Results reveal the onus of seeking care to be increasingly placed on the patient, escalating conflicts between religious institutions and state legislation, and heightened stress in providers at religious institutions. These outcomes have resulted in a greater workload for reproductive care providers in secular institutions and the muddling of the definition of conscientious objection. With future threats to contraceptive access potentially looming, the policies proposed concern lawmakers, providers, and patients alike, as stakeholders in the effective delivery of reproductive care. Recommendations also address racial, socioeconomic, and geographical disparities in contraceptive access in hopes of drawing attention to an often-overlooked barrier to reproductive care access.

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