Conscientious Objection in the Italian Legal System

The work focuses on the conscientious objection in the italian legal system, starting from its history: the request of the objectors to be exempted from the duty of the military service. At the basis of this objection there were not so much purely individual reasons, a spirit of freedom or religious principles, but rather fundamental principles of the constitutional system itself. So, if the foundation of the right to conscientious objection is in the Constitution, it appears likely to be recognised even if not expressly provided for in a legislative text, or according to an extensive or analogical application of the rule that explicitly provides for it. A law regulating conscientious objection is important and useful, but the related right cannot depend on the will of the same majority that has placed the controversial legal command. A democratic and pluralist legal system cannot admit one moral point of view in controversial issues. Military service is no longer mandatory, so conscientious objection is now invoked with regard to abortion, to the practices in medically assisted procreation (MAP) and, lastly, with regard to euthanasia. There is also the objection of pharmacists to emergency contraceptives, possibly abortive, and the objection of mayors to the celebration of same-sex civil unions. Also in these situations, just like in the case of the military service, the objectors ask to be exempted from a law that goes against fundamental values protected by the same constitutional system, as the right to life or the “rights of the family as natural society based on marriage” (art. 29 Ital. Const.). In Italy only the laws on abortion, on animal experimentation and on MAP expressly provides for the right to conscientious objection, not without many complaints.