Health, the government challenges Sicily's law to hire objector doctors: here's why

The Region of Sicily wanted to change the hiring criteria in public hospitals, preventing conscientious objector doctors from being hired. The Council of Ministers - in a Fratelli d'Italia communication - challenged the Sicilian Region's Law 23 of 5/06/2025. 'It violated the Constitution, objectors cannot be denied participation in competitions'. This was stated by Senator and head of the Fratelli d'Italia group in the insularity commission Raoul Russo and Carolina Varchi, head of the Fratelli d'Italia group in the Chamber's justice commission.

"Conscientious objection represents the most authentic expression of personal, religious, moral and intellectual freedom. This is why we welcome the Council of Ministers' challenge of the law that provided for the recruitment of doctors and other non-conscientious objector personnel in public hospitals," they explain. "The law violated Article 117 of the Constitution, which guarantees the principles of equality, the right to conscientious objection, and equal access to public offices and public competition. Law 194 of '78,' Russo and Varchi added, 'fully guarantees all the rights in the field and in Sicily there is no problem with its concrete application. The law challenged by Rome, therefore, had an instrumental character'. 'We are not against conscientious objection, which is not only a matter of principle but also a concrete instrument for the protection of human dignity, plurality of consciences and democratic coexistence, but,' Russo and Varchi conclude, 'everyone must be guaranteed the possibility of participating in a public competition'.

In Italy, public hospitals are required by law to guarantee access to abortion, but in reality this right can be difficult to exercise, especially in facilities where there is a high presence of objector doctors. In fact, there are no specific constraints imposing the recruitment of non-objector staff. In this context, the decision taken by Sicily takes on particular importance and represents a rare case at national level, not least because the region has one of the highest percentages of objectors and one of the most difficult access to voluntary termination of pregnancy. As stated in the latest report, 'in 2022, the percentage of gynaecologists who are conscientious objectors is 60.5 per cent, lower than the 63.6 per cent of the previous year, but still high and with considerable differences between the regions: the highest percentages of gynaecologists who are conscientious objectors are to be found in Molise (90.9 per cent) and Sicily (81.5 per cent); the lowest percentages in Valle d'Aosta (25.0 per cent) and the Autonomous Province of Trento (31.8 per cent)'. The data are aggregated on a regional average, not by individual health facility. The Luca Coscioni Association has made several requests for civic access and found that in many regions several hospitals have 100% of doctors and health personnel who are objectors. For example, in the entire province of Messina there is not a single doctor who practices Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy (IVG), while in the province of Trapani there is only one. The latter figure implies a possible disparity in treatment across the country between different regions, with situations in which women may be forced to change city (or, in extreme cases, region) to practice the interruption.