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Imagine that paediatricians are asked by the parents of a child with severe developmental disabilities to perform a hysterectomy and mastectomy on their daughter and give her hormones to restrict her growth. Imagine that, though the paediatricians sympathetically appreciate the motivation of the parents for this request – that restricting her growth will enable them to continue to care for her themselves, they think that they cannot do these things to the child. Should we compel them to provide the procedures or accommodate their conscientious judgment? Or again. Imagine that a doctor is willing to provide a first trimester termination but is reluctant to terminate a pregnancy in the third trimester. Should we compel him to provide the procedure or accommodate his conscientious judgment? The general question to be considered is whether it is ever justifiable to compel performance by a doctor in violation of his or her conscience. Or, to put the question another way: what scope – if any at all — should be given to conscientious judgment in healthcare?