Spain

Spanish Constitution

Full Text

Article 15

Everyone has the rigt to life and to physical and moral integrity, and may under no circumstances be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading punishment or treatment. The death penalty is hereby abolished, except as provided by military criminal law in times of war.

Article 16

1. Freedom of ideology, religion and worship of individuals and communities is guaranteed, with no other restriction on their expression than may be necessary to maintain public order as protected by law. . .1

Notes

1.  "[T]he Constitutional Court considered that health care practitioners may invoke Article 16 of the Constitution in order to justify refusing to perform certain operations which would violate their religious beliefs (STC 53/1985, judgment of 26 August, 1988). This has been confirmed in later judgments by the same court, delivered on 16 and 23 January, 1998."Precis in English from EU Network of Independent Experts on Fundamental Rights, Opinion No. 4-2005: The Right to Conscientious Objection and the Conclusion by EU Member States of Concordats with the Holy See (14 December, 2005), p. 13-14