Europe: lobjection de conscience sera-t-elle encore possible et jusquoù ?
Le Réseau Européen d’Experts pour les Droits Fondamentaux, dont fait partie le Pr belge Olivier De Schutter, a publié un document de 40 pages qui inscirait comme nouveaux droits fondamentaux l’avortement, le mariage entre personnes de même sexe, l’accès à la contraception, l’assistance au suicide et l’euthanasie. Face à ces droits que certains, dont ces experts, voudraient inclure dans la Chartre des droits fondamentaux , l’objection de conscience du corps médical serait mise en question. C’est ce qu’explique l’article ci-dessous. Nous avons indiqué en gras, un des passages significatifs.
http://athena.leidenuniv.nl/rechten/meijers/index.php3?m=10&c=98
Composition du réseau : http://europa.eu.int/comm/employment_social/fundamental_rights/policy/aneval/legnet_fr.htm#comp
« The Family at Crossroads in
A statement issued by a European Union advisory panel attempts making assisted suicide, same-sex marriage and access to contraception to be among the "human rights" guaranteed to citizens of the EU.
Those findings were part of a larger 40-page opinion from the EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights. As reported over the past two weeks by the Institue, the opinion threatens the rights of medical professionals to refuse to participate in abortions and other procedures that may violate their religious beliefs. Though the panel was charged with examining a proposed treaty between the and that dealt largely with abortion, panel members did not restrict their opinion only to abortion.
The opinion argues that in any country where assisted suicide or same-sex marriage is legal, it is not enough to simply allow this behavior; the governments of such countries must make sure that people have easy access to these services. "For instance, although neither euthanasia nor assisted suicide are protected as such under the European Convention on Human Rights or any other international human rights instrument, in a State where euthanasia or assisted suicide are partially decriminalized, the right to religious conscientious objection, while it should be recognized to the medical doctors asked to perform euthanasia or to assist a person in committing suicide, should not be exercised in a way which leads to depriving any person from the possibility of exercising effectively his or her rights as guaranteed under the applicable legislation."
A similar argument is put forward on same-sex marriage which could possibly require clergy to perform ceremonies that directly contradict their faith. ". . . the right to religious conscientious objection may be invoked by an officer refusing to celebrate a marriage between two persons of the same sex or where one of the prospective spouses is a transsexual, it would be unacceptable to allow this to result in marriage being unavailable to the couple concerned: any form of discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation (as would result from the refusal to celebrate a marriage between two persons of the same sex where this institution is recognized), and any violation of the right to marry of transsexuals, should not be tolerated, and the public authorities should ensure in such circumstances that other officers will be available and willing to celebrate those unions."
The opinion also says that pharmacists are obligated to dispense drugs to which they are morally opposed such as the Pill which can act as an abortifacient. "The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights suggests that, where access to contraceptives is legal, women should not be deprived of such access because of the exercise, by health practitioners or pharmacologists, of their right to religious conscientious objection: under this case-law, a State may oblige pharmacologists to sell contraceptives, at least where women would otherwise not have access to contraceptives" www.lifeissues.net 20060107