Pharmacists’ Right of Conscientious Objection

Authors

  • Abraham Barrero Ortega

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18042/cepc/rep.172.03

Keywords:

Conscientious objection, morning-after pill, conscientious objection pharmaceutical, abortion, freedom of thought, conscience and religion.

Abstract

In its recent Decision 145/2015, the Spanish Constitutional Court ruled on whether staff of pharmacies could be granted the right to conscientious objection. The Court upheld the constitutional right of pharmacy staff to conscientiously object to selling the so-called «morning-after pill». The Court, however, did not extend the scope of such a right to the sale of contraceptives. As a result of this decision, regarding a highly controversial matter within Spanish doctrine, what should be understood as the new scope of the right to conscientiously object? How does this decision impact the precedent case-law on the issue? As could be expected, Decision 145/2015 has sparked a lively doctrinal debate. This article intends to contribute to the debate under the assumption that the Constitutional Court’s ruling «may not have been fully understood».

Issue

Section

ARTICLES