Learn About Conscientious Objection In Spain

If you make a decision that goes against your consciousness, you are doing something that goes against everything that you believe in. It is this idea that leads to the concept of conscientious objection in Spain.

Your consciousness is your built-in moral compass. You can also see it as a place where you store your principles and your values.

So when people say that you should let your conscience guide you when you make a decision, they say that this decision will be a reflection of who you really are.

Where is the conscientious objection in Spain?

Conscientious objection is the personal objection to a legal requirement. If this requirement goes against your moral conscience and you choose not to obey, you are considered a conscientious objector.

There are certain standards that you must meet in order for your decision to be considered a conscientious objection in Spain, and not just something you came up with in passing.

Your action must be based on genuine perceptions. You can not just break a law and call yourself a conscientious objector to get away with it.

If you are part of a religious group that does not allow its members to participate in the military, the objection is considered genuine.

The same applies to people who belong to certain schools of thought that have been accepted by a social group that constitutes an essential part of society. There are many examples of conscientious objections throughout history, such as:

• Refuse to perform military service or refuse to salute the flag.
• Do not want to participate in a jury, swear an oath or participate in religious ceremonies.

• Refuse to work on weekends or refuse to undergo blood transfusions.
• Oppose being involved in helping a patient have an abortion.

What does the law say about conscious objection?

The law is a set of rules and obligations that residents should obey. However, the strength of the law should not be based on the fear of what will happen if you break it.

The law’s strength lies instead in the law’s justice and how healthy it works. In other words, you should want to follow the law because it makes sense, and not because you are afraid of the consequences.

If citizens do not consider the laws to be reasonable, it will be more difficult to enforce them.

If a legislator anticipates that a certain group will refuse to follow a law because they believe it is not moral, the person will need to enact something else.

Controlling people is not the same as driving a machine. Humans are rational and conscious beings, so they can actively participate in the search for what is good for all – the so-called “common good”.

Conscientious objection in Spain – the Constitution

In Spain, there is only conscientious objection to military service. However, the Constitutional Court in Spain acknowledges that conscientious objection has a certain place in other contexts.

Due to the proposed resource against the abortion law, the constitutional tribunal in Spain has stated that it is not strictly necessary to regulate conscientious objection for it to be protected in other cases than for military service.

The most recent case of conscientious objection occurred in June 2015. The Constitutional Tribunal took a decision on 25 June 2015 regarding the need to provide abortion medicine and contraception.

Its decision rejected the proposal that conscientious objection needs to be based on a specific law in order to be exercised, at least in the case of sensitive substances such as abortion.

When it comes to conscientious objection in Spain, consciousness is the first principle for the moral evaluations of one’s actions.

However, this is not the last principle. This is important because the last principle of moral evaluation is reality.

In other words: just as you should follow your consciousness when making decisions, you must also adjust your perceptions in accordance with reality.

For an open dialogue with other people. Read a lot. Try to be objective and openly observe what you have around you. These exercises will make you a better person.