A woman has spoken out after a doctor refused to renew her contraceptive pill prescription.

Olive Lockett, 19, from Bathurst, New South Wales, claims she was visiting a medical centre for a checkup on her glandular fever and while there, requested a new script.

'I don't have a regular GP so I just go to medical centres. I booked a doctor online and after speaking to her about the glandular fever I asked for my prescription to be renewed,' Ms Lockett told Daily Mail Australia.

'Her face dropped, she paused and just said "oh".'

Olive Lockett, 19, says a doctor at a medical centre refused to prescribe her the contraceptive pill due to 'religious reasons'

Ms Lockett, who has been on the contraceptive pill since she was 14 due to painful periods, said the doctor's 'eyes widened' when she said she wasn't in a stable relationship.

'She was just shocked to find out that I was on the pill and not in a relationship and I didn't even have time to explain that I've been on it all this time because I have such unstable awful periods,' she said.

'It felt like she was a teacher who was really disappointed in me... I felt like I was in the principal's office. She just assumed I was having casual sex.

'Then she started asking whether I used other kinds of protection and I felt like I was 15 just starting to talk about sex. I'm 19.'

Ms Lockett said the doctor 'scathed' her for not being in a relationship and proceeded to ask her questions about contraception

Ms Lockett said the doctor continued to talk about contraception and likened it to a 'lecture.'

'I asked her why she wouldn't prescribe it and she said "for my own religious reasons" which is completely fine but there was no sign or anything.

'The way she treated me and the tone she was speaking in made me feel absolutely sick and it was humiliating, I felt so degraded.

'It wasn't handled professionally, it was extreme. Everything I said was wrong in her eyes and she ended up having to call the clinic I went to last time and I had to go across town to get the prescription.'

Ms Lockett said the whole experience left her in shock.

'It felt like she was a teacher who was really disappointed in me... I felt like I was in the principal's office. She just assumed I was having casual sex,' she said

'My periods are so bad, there have been times where I have been pacing my room in the middle of the night for hours in the most unimaginable pain. I need this and the fact that she'd deny that is just ridiculous to me,' she said.

To experience this just makes me feel so bad for others who deal with this every single day. Olive Lockett

The university student posted about her experience on Facebook and was backed by hundreds of her friends.

'I think I accidentally slipped and fell into a time machine because I just had a medical doctor scathe me for not being in a relationship and asking her for a repeat pill prescription,' she wrote.

'She didn't even give it to me in the end due to "religious reasons". I honestly thought myself lucky to not have to ever encounter things like this in my life, but I cannot imagine what it's like for girls to have to feel this anger every day of their lives.'

ARE DOCTORS ALLOWED TO REFUSE TO PRESCRIBE THE CONTRACEPTIVE PILL? According to the Australian Medical Association, there may be times where a doctor’s personal beliefs conflict with their peer-based professional practice. In exceptional circumstances, and as a last resort, a doctor may refuse to provide, or participate in, certain medical treatments or procedures that conflict with his or her own personal beliefs. A conscientious objection is based on sincerely-held beliefs and moral concerns, not self-interest or discrimination. A doctor should always provide medically appropriate treatment in an emergency situation, even if that treatment conflicts with the doctor’s personal beliefs and values. When a doctor refuses to provide, or participate in, a medically appropriate treatment or procedure based on a conscientious objection, it affects and potentially disrupts the patient’s access to care. In accordance with the Medical Board of Australia, doctors should:  - be aware of their right to not provide or directly participate in treatments to which they conscientiously object - inform their patients and, if relevant, colleagues, of their objection, and not use their objection to impede access to treatments that are legal If a doctor has an objection, they are required to: - inform their patient of their objection as soon as possible and that they have the right to see another doctor - take whatever steps necessary to ensure their patient's access to care is not impeded - continue to treat their patient with dignity and respect, even if they object to the treatment or procedure they are seeking - refrain from expressing their own personal beliefs in a way that may cause their patient distress Source: The Australian Medical Association Advertisement

Ms Lockett said no woman should be made to feel this way by a medical professional.

'I always see stories in the media about women who are declined access to these things by pharmacists and doctors overseas and I was shocked by what they had to put up with,' she said.

'It always seemed so far away and I thought I lived in a country where I shouldn't have to deal with that. So to experience this just makes me feel so bad for others who deal with this every single day... it was fascinating to just get a taste of that.'

Australian doctors do have a right to object to prescribing certain medications.

According to the Australian Medical Association, if a doctor's personal values or beliefs conflict with their practice, then they may 'conscientiously object.'

'There may be times where a doctor’s personal beliefs conflict with their peer-based professional practice,' they explain in their position statement.

'In exceptional circumstances, and as a last resort, a doctor may refuse to provide, or participate in, certain medical treatments or procedures that conflict with his or her own personal beliefs.'

Ms Lockett said she wasn't able to explain that the reason she needed the pill was due to the extremely painful periods she's been experiencing since the age of 14

These objections must be based on 'sincerely-held beliefs' and 'moral concerns' and must never be based on 'self-interest' or 'discrimination.'

If this occurs, doctors must always inform their patient of the objection as soon as possible, as well as making sure they have taken 'whatever steps necessary' to ensure their patient's access to care is not impeded.

Morally however, they are not entitled to express their own personal beliefs 'in a way that may cause them distress.'

It's terribly embarrassing and the basis of all doctor and patient relationships should be trust. Dr Beth Wilson

Speaking to Daily Mail Australia, the Vice President of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Tony Bartone, said doctors should never 'push our belief onto the patient.'

'Humiliation doesn't work, no matter what the end plan is. I would have thought that this is no longer the mode or the vehicle for delivery of health care advice in our land,' he said.

'At the end of the day my beliefs - I park them in a corner and I treat the patient as Western standards would require and demand. And if there's a particular religious reason as to why I can't proceed down a certain line I need to declare that and I need to make sure that I am giving the patient an alternative way forward.'

In Australia doctors are able to conscientiously object to prescribing medications if it goes against their morals or beliefs

Dr Beth Wilson, the former Health Services Commissioner in Victoria, is outraged that women are experiencing these kinds of interactions.

'I personally think this is outrageous - that doctors should be permitted to refuse a legitimate health service to a patient,' she told Daily Mail Australia.

'It's terribly embarrassing and the basis of all doctor and patient relationships should be trust. If you are getting this moral outrage and scolding it's just belittling and putting the patient down is just inappropriate.