Madrid, Spain, Mar 16, 2010 / 16:14 pm
The National Association for the Defense of the Right to Conscientious Objection is accusing the government in the Spanish region of Andalusia of attempting to deny conscientious objection rights in the application of a law on euthanasia.
“Considering the position of the Andalusian government throughout the proceedings for this bill, we fear it is not as much about legal scruples as about the desire to obstruct the exercising of conscientious objection by healthcare professionals.” The association warned that this could “cause a harmful conflict within the healthcare system.”
“The right to conscientious objection,” the association continued, “as the Spanish courts have repeatedly ruled, is a constitutional right that does not need to be regulated by law in order to be recognized, as the constitution is directly applicable in matters of human rights.”
“Conscientious objection by doctors, pharmacists and nurses is established in all of the healthcare ethics codes for national and international professional schools,” the association added.