Abortion is a legal medical procedure under the current law and therefore it should be free, while conscientious objection must in no way obstruct it, which is the case in Croatia, experts said on Friday ahead of a conference on access to safe and free abortion.

The international conference, which focuses on the denial of healthcare on religious or conscientious grounds, was organised to point to problems in access to abortion in Croatia, Italy, and Slovenia.

Availability prevents illegal abortions, where most of the victims are poor and young women, gynecologist Jasenka Grujic said, adding that in Croatia abortion should be free since it is a legal medical procedure.

A firm stand must be taken in medicine that something which is regulated healthwise, ethically and legally cannot be opposed by professionals, she said.

Grujic said Croatia’s 1978 abortion law was excellent and that it had saved thousands of women’s lives, but that it should be updated.

The law is satisfactory but the key is in its application, said Sanja Cesar of the Centre for Education, Counselling and Research (CESI), one of the organisers of the conference.

If it were applied properly and the ministry oversaw its implementation, the situation would be much better, she added.

Conscientious objection must in no way obstruct access to abortion, she said, adding that “a woman and her right to health must come first.”

It’s unacceptable that entire hospitals don’t perform abortions, she said, adding that abortion should be available in every hospital and that it is worrying that institutions do not keep records of denied abortions.

Gender equality ombudsman Visnja Ljubicic said she received complaints almost on a daily basis, mainly from women, about access to pregnancy termination and treatment during pregnancy and  while giving birth. The complaints indicate that the treatment of women “is quite turbulent.”

She warned that 59% of doctors in Croatia are conscientious objectors when it comes to abortion, as against under 10% in Slovenia.

In Croatia it’s also necessary to equalise the financial structure when it comes to pregnancy termination, Ljubicic said.