Croatian doctors refuse to carry out abortions on moral grounds On paper, abortion has been legal in Croatia for decades. But in practice, the option is increasingly unavailable to women in the mainly Catholic country, where rising religious pressure means an increasing number of doctors are refusing abortions on moral grounds. According to a recent survey, 6 out of 10 doctors in public hospitals do not provide abortions by invoking their legal right to "conscientious objection."