Contenuti per la categoria: Obiezioni di coscienza

The protection of human life “at sunset”, between law and freedom of conscience

ABSTRACT: The paper proposes to suggest to the Italian legislator, which must further intervene on the matter of the end of life, and has also been solicited by the Constitutional Court, some methods that can allow a synthesis between the different conflicting ethical and political positions that animate the debate on life and human dignity. It is considered appropriate that the law does not favor the ad libitum exercise of the freedom of self-determination in end-of-life choices, and that the most suitable category for orienting the balance between equality and freedom of self-determination according to dignity must be solidarity, which makes a person that is all the more alive and human the more he is inserted into a civil and supportive society.

SOMMARIO: 1. Il biodiritto tra posizioni etiche e politiche contrastanti - 2. Il consenso-informato e le disposizioni anticipate di trattamento - 3. Il suicidio assistito: un eccessivo diritto giurisprudenziale? - 4. La sterile contrapposizione tra autodeterminazione solipsistica e solidarietà sociale - 5. Le cure palliative - 6. La laicità procedurale nella giuridificazione delle scelte di fine-vita - 7. L’esperienza del diritto ecclesiastico a servizio del biodiritto.

Emergency contraception with EllaOne, an over-the-counter drug dispensed without a prescription

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. Contraccezione di emergenza e libertà di coscienza: profili generali - 3. La determina del Direttore generale dell’AIFA dell’8 ottobre 2020 che ha eliminato l’obbligo della prescrizione medica per la dispensazione e vendita anche alle minorenni dell’Upristal acetato (EllaOne) - 4. Prima il TAR del Lazio e poi il Consiglio di Stato respingono il ricorso presentato da un gruppo di Associazioni impegnate nella difesa della vita ritenendo che l’azione di EllaOne sia quello di interferire l’ovulazione senza esercitare alcun effetto incapacitante l’annidamento dell’ovulo fecondato - 5. La contraccezione di emergenza esula davvero dal perimetro dell’atto medico? Una discutibilissima forzatura che spegne gli effetti del principio-guida del consenso informato quando la donna è minorenne - 6. Conclusioni.

ABSTRACT: The Author, starting from the decision of the Director General of AIFA of 8 October 2020 who liberalized the dispensation to the public of EllaOne, comments on the recent sentence of the Council of State which rejected the appeal presented by some associations for its annulment. And he criticizes the contents, highlighting the incompleteness of the scientific reconstruction regarding the effects of emergency hormonal contraceptives and the danger of the choice to alienate the dispensing of over-the-counter drugs from the general rules of health treatment. Especially in the case of minor women whose sexual and reproductive health requires not abandoning them but really taking charge of them without medicalising their choices.

The Tragic Choices during the Covid Health Emergency: When the Resources are Limited, Who Should be Cured First among Several Patients? A Comparative Law Analysis

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. L’approccio italiano: le raccomandazioni di etica clinica della SIAARTI e le linee guida SIAARTI-SIMLA - 3. La gestione della scarsità di risorse sanitarie a livello comparato - 4. Considerazioni (finali) comparatistiche - 5. Uno sguardo verso il futuro.

ABSTRACT: During the Covid-19 health emergency, a situation of scarcity of resources of different nature, albeit all somehow connected with the “medical world” (e.g. nurses and doctors), dramatically unfolded. This organisational “catch-22” induced the SIAARTI (the Italian Medical Society) to issue some recommendations of clinical ethics. The last ones turn out to be the subject matter of multiple criticisms: given the potential criteria of allocation of resources, one of those adopted the chronological one. Starting from this reflection, the paper discusses and analyses, from a comparative perspective, the approach taken by further countries: in this respect the demarcation lines existing between the Italian responses to the pandemic and those coming from other European - but not EU, namely Switzerland and the United Kingdom - countries will be highlighted.

SUMMARY: 1. Religion and citizenship - 2. Religion and migration - 3. The controversial stance on religion, citizens and migrants - 4. Promoting Western values or international standards of human rights protection? - 5. Concluding remarks.

ABSTRACT: In a controversy concerning the legitimacy of the wearing of the Sikh kirpan in the public space, the Italian Court of Cassation stated that immigrants have the obligation to conform their values to those of the Western world. This is but one case when a migrant’s religion has been assumed - in the public and political debate and in courts - to draw a line between what belongs to the Western civilization and what does not. This paper aims to challenge the ‘West versus non-West’ approach, by examining the interplay between religion, citizenship and migration, and by stressing that democratic countries are such only as long as they remain pluralist and accommodate diversity. Although limitations on unacceptable manifestations of religion do apply, these must pursue only legitimate aims under international standards, which do not include such a thing as the protection of Western values.

 SOMMARIO: 1. Considerazioni introduttive - 2. I casi di rifiuto opposto da pasticcieri per motivi religiosi di vendere torte commissionate da clienti omosessuali - 3. Libertà di contrarre e interessi contrapposti - 4. L’attuale assetto del quadro normativo in materia di diritto contrattuale antidiscriminatorio - 5. I tentativi della dottrina civilistica di ricondurre la materia all’interno di una cornice di coerenza sistematica - 6. Una inedita rappresentazione in ambito europeo del difficile equilibrio tra libertà di espressione e divieto di discriminazione a causa dell’orientamento sessuale - 7. Dalla libertà di espressione alla libertà di creazione “artistica” il passo è breve? - 8. La decisione di inammissibilità del ricorso presentato davanti alla Corte di Strasburgo dall’attivista di QueerSpace.

“The Icing on the Cake”. Looking for the Right Balance between the Baker’s Freedom and the Prohibition of Discrimination of the Same-Sex Couples

ABSTRACT: When a baker refuses to sell a cake for the wedding of a homosexual couple on religious grounds, a conflict arises between two fundamental rights, equality, and freedom of religion. In some cases, freedom of expression may also be involved. This article examines the question of whether these rights can be balanced, considering the doctrinal approach to anti-discrimination contract law and the most recent case law.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. L'accomodamento ragionevole: cenni - 3. Dalla laicità come metodo alla reasonable accommodation - 4. (segue) Limiti e aporie - 5. Spunti conclusivi.

Religious symbols and reasonable accommodation ‘all’italiana’ in the recent jurisprudence of legitimacy

ABSTRACT: With the judgment no. 24414/2021, the United Sections of the Court of Cassation identified reasonable accommodation as a possible solution to the issue of religious symbols in public school classrooms. The application of the instrument (traditionally used to protect freedom of religion and belief in the workplace) to the case at hand is undoubtedly characterized by original features that this paper aims to analyze. After having reconstructed the model of reasonable accommodation proposed by the Court, this article tries to verify whether the use of this instrument can be effective and applicable, from a technical-legal point of view, even in the public-school context, which involves principles endowed with axiological primacy, such as that of ‘laicità’. Brief concluding remarks will be addressed to the possible effects of this ruling in those areas of Law and Religion which are characterized by regulatory gaps and/or a high degree of conflict.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La decisione (in sintesi): una soluzione subottimale - 3. Il ruolo determinante del principio supremo di laicità - 4. Laicità sostanziale, laicità procedurale, accomodamento ragionevole - 5. Discriminazione diretta e indiretta. - 6. Conclusioni.

The crucifix ‘accommodated’. Considerations at first reading of the judgment no. 24414/2021 by the United Sections of the Italian Supreme Court of cassation

ABSTRACT: With decision no. 24414/2021 the United Sections of the Italian Supreme Court of cassation have provided an unprecedented solution to the issue of religious symbols in the classrooms of public schools. In this essay the author analyses the judgment, focusing in particular on three aspects: the relationship between the so-called ‘Italian principle of secularism’ and the reasonable accommodation; the existence or not of discrimination against the teacher who has been obliged to teach under the crucifix; the practical ways in which this ruling can become 'living law' in the Italian legal system.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La libertà di espressione e la libertà di coscienza - 3. Le tematiche bioetiche - 4. I simboli e l’identità - 5. Considerazioni conclusive.

Religious minorities in Italy. New problems (?)

ABSTRACT: In the contest of a wider pluralism of the Italian society, legislation still struggles to guarantee an real equal treatment to all religious minorities. Religious denominations - who ratified an intesa with the Government - are for sure in a privileged position compared to those who are still regulated by the general law. Among the last ones, the Italian jurisprudence is playing an important role to find a balance especially on those issues that ask for a more decise government of religious diversity.

SOMMARIO: 1. Introduzione - 2. La confessione dei Testimoni di Geova e il nodo dei principi religiosi tra politica e diritto - 3. Il nodo dell’intesa. Le tappe del negoziato - 4. L’impasse e le difficili vie d’uscita.

On the State-Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses agreement

ABSTRACT: To date, the State-Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses agreement is waiting to complete the procedure within the meaning of article 8, paragraph 3, of the Italian Constitution. The latest statements by the government refer to the need for further information on health matters, evoking the issue of refusal of blood transfusion treatments. On a legal level, there are difficulties in overcoming the impasse in which the agreement is, also because there isn't a legislative discipline of the procedure prefigured in the article 8 of the Constitution; furthermore the statements made in 2016 by the Constitutional Court on the political nature of the government's choices regarding the agreements can be an obstacle. The paper deals with these points, also taking into account the application to the ECHR presented by the Christian Congregation of Jehovah's Witnesses against the Italian Republic.

SOMMARIO: 1. Un simbolo religioso - 2. Una laicità pluralista - 3. Modelli di laicità e simboli religiosi - 4. Il crocifisso - 5. … e la sua “democratizzazione” - 6. Bilanciamento e non discriminazione - 7. Tutela e autotutela.

The Crucifix back to Supreme Court of Cassation. Notes by amicus curiae.

ABSTRACT: The display of a crucifix in the classrooms breaks the separatism principle and, although voted by the majority of the class, is discriminatory versus the unfavorable pupils and teacher. The protection of the freedom of consciency permits the teacher himself in case to displace  the icon throughout his lesson.