Elaine Loughlin: Conscientious objectors already limit services at our maternity hospitals

It is not just religious groups denying women access to services, consultants, anesthesiologists and managers can also stand in the way.

Those entrenched in what has become a fraught debate on the National Maternity Hospital (NMH) should know that it doesn't take a group of nuns to prevent the delivery of women's healthcare.

In hospitals across the country, women are being denied access to services because of the conscientious objections of a few consultants or anesthesiologists, or perhaps a manager.