Patricio Lopez Barahona
Extract
Man is a free being who establishes his behaviour and forges his will in a series of ethical and/or religious principles. Loyalty to these principles brings the right and the need of conscientious objection. Man, in his own legitimate exercise of freedom, can and must object to exercising any action that is against or transgresses those principles that his conscience dictate. . .
One should have to distinguish between civil disobedience and conscientious objection. The latter comes from a personal motivation. One person feels that he cannot fulfil a certain juridical regulation because it goes against his/her conscience and moral principles, which are based on faith and on ethical considerations. However, civil disobedience , which can also be founded on conscience motivations, is a type of attitude that pretends to put forward a change or a breach in the law. In case of civil disobedience the law is also considered immoral or unjust. Civil disobedience and conscientious objection can happen together because civil disobedience is considered massive conscientious objection, if not massive, at least very numerous.
Barahona PL. Conscientious Objection and Testimonials in the Field of Bioethics Research. In: Sgreccia E, Laffitte J editors. Proceedings of the 13th General Assembly of the Pontifical Academy for Life. 2007;123-126.