Abortion objectors among Italian anesthesiologists by area 2020

In 2020, about 44.6 percent of anesthesiologists, working in hospitals where it was possible to perform voluntary interruptions of pregnancy in Italy, were conscientious objectors. This statistic highlights geographic differences in this figure. According to data, getting an abortion was much harder in the South and the Islands, where more than 60 percent of anesthesiologists exercised a conscientious objection to abortion procedures.

Exercising conscientious objection means that a medical professional may choose to opt out of providing a particular procedure, such as abortion, because of personal beliefs and values.