Conscientious objection to abortion: how to strike a legal and ethical balance between conflicting rights?

The Italian Supreme Court ruling no. 18901 of May 13, 2021 has determined that doctors who are opposed to abortion can refuse to perform it on grounds of conscience, but such a refusal does not exempt them from providing assistance to the woman before and after the procedure itself. The legalization of abortion should be considered within a broader strategy to put an end to underground and unsafe abortions, to raise awareness and enhance reproductive education and accessibility to contraceptive methods.

Same-sex parenting according to the Italian Constitutional Court: the need for legislative solutions.

The authors have set out to analyze the most recent Italian Constitutional Court jurisprudence (rulings n. 32 and 33/2021) on the issue of surrogacy, by contextualizing the underlying factors and possible implications. The judges argue that their decisions are grounded in the best interest of the minor, whether born from surrogate motherhood or from heterologous fertilization, and believe that a legislative intervention to regulate the issue can no longer be postponed.

Does the EU COVID Digital Certificate Strike a Reasonable Balance between Mobility Needs and Public Health?

The need to fight a highly aggressive virus such as SARS-CoV-2 has compelled governments to put in place measures, which, in the name of health protection, have constrained many freedoms we all enjoy, including freedom of movement, both nationally and within the European Union. In order to encourage and facilitate the return to free movement, the European Parliament has launched a "COVID-19 digital certificate". A spirited debate centered around the use of this certificate is still ongoing among scholars, many of whom have pointed out the uncertainties relative to COVID-19 immunity, privacy issues and the risk of discriminatory effects.

The March 2021 Italian constitutional court ruling on surrogacy: a prelude to common European legislation for the sake of reproductive health?

Purpose: Surrogacy is an arrangement by which a surrogate mother bears a child for another couple or person, and is often thought of as a form of 'treatment' for couples (or even individuals) with fertility or sterility issues. Still, surrogacy entails ethical issues related to gender, fundamental human rights, exploitation and inequality.

Materials And Methods: Starting from the Italian state of affairs, the authors have set out to briefly expound upon such complexities, taking into account relevant jurisprudence on the subject, with a particular focus on inter-country surrogacy and second-parent adoption, which can themselves engender significant legal dilemmas.

Information obligation in surgery.

The following article aims to clarify the guidelines needed for the gaining of informed consent in surgery treatments.  Legal dispositions in the provisions of law n. 219/2017, written according to the regulatory mechanism uphold by the Italian Supreme Court and medical code of practice have been properly analyzed in order answer the questions unanswered by the law.

COVID-19: when health care resources run short, how to pick who should (not) get treated?

The World Health Organization had long warned of the onset of a pandemic that could throw national health systems into a major crisis, even in wealthy developed nations. Nonetheless, almost a year and a half after its appearance, Covid-19 continues to make painful triage choices necessary in granting access intensive care. Based on the opinions of numerous ethics committees and scientific societies, the article aims to illustrate the difference between the utilitarian-collectivist approach and the ethical approach, which inspired the guidelines drawn up in Italy in 2021 by SIAARTI in collaboration with SIMLA.

Is the Right to Abortion at Risk in Times of COVID-19? The Italian State of Affairs within the European Context.

The COVID-19 health emergency has thrown the health systems of most European countries into a deep crisis, forcing them to call off and postpone all interventions deemed not essential or life-saving in order to focus most resources on the treatment of COVID-19 patients. To facilitate women who are experiencing difficulties in terminating their pregnancies in Italy, the Ministry of Health has adapted to the regulations in force in most European countries and issued new guidelines that allow medical abortion up to 63 days, i.e.

CRISPR-Cas and Its Wide-Ranging Applications: From Human Genome Editing to Environmental Implications, Technical Limitations, Hazards and Bioethical Issues.

The CRISPR-Cas system is a powerful tool for in vivo editing the genome of most organisms, including man. During the years this technique has been applied in several fields, such as agriculture for crop upgrade and breeding including the creation of allergy-free foods, for eradicating pests, for the improvement of animal breeds, in the industry of bio-fuels and it can even be used as a basis for a cell-based recording apparatus. Possible applications in human health include the making of new medicines through the creation of genetically modified organisms, the treatment of viral infections, the control of pathogens, applications in clinical diagnostics and the cure of human genetic diseases, either caused by somatic (e.

Surrogacy and "Procreative Tourism". What Does the Future Hold from the Ethical and Legal Perspectives?

: To explore the ethical and legal complexities arising from the controversial issue of surrogacy, particularly in terms of how they affect fundamental rights of children and parents. Surrogacy is a form of medically-assisted procreation (MAP) in which a woman "lends" her uterus to carry out a pregnancy on behalf of a third party. There are pathological conditions, such as uterine agenesis or hysterectomy outcomes, that may prevent prospective mothers from becoming pregnant or carry a pregnancy to term; such patients may consider finding a surrogate mother.

Herbal Preparations of Medical Cannabis: A Vademecum for Prescribing Doctors.

Cannabis has been used for centuries for therapeutic purposes. In the last century, the plant was demonized due to its high abuse liability and supposedly insufficient health benefits. However, recent decriminalization policies and new scientific evidence have increased the interest in cannabis therapeutic potential of cannabis and paved the way for the release of marketing authorizations for cannabis-based products.

Emergency contraception: unresolved clinical, ethical and legal quandaries still linger.

Emergency contraception (EC) has been prescribed for decades, in order to lessen the risk of unplanned and unwanted pregnancy following unprotected intercourse, ordinary contraceptive failure, or rape. EC and the linked aspect of unintended pregnancy undoubtedly constitute highly relevant public health issues, in that they involve women's self-determination, reproductive freedom and family planning. Most European countries regulate EC access quite effectively, with solid information campaigns and supply mechanisms, based on various recommendations from international institutions herein examined.

Smart drugs and synthetic androgens for cognitive and physical enhancement: revolving doors of cosmetic neurology.

Cognitive enhancement can be defined as the use of drugs and/or other means with the aim to improve the cognitive functions of healthy subjects in particular memory, attention, creativity and intelligence in the absence of any medical indication. Currently, it represents one of the most debated topics in the neuroscience community. Human beings always wanted to use substances to improve their cognitive functions, from the use of hallucinogens in ancient civilizations in an attempt to allow them to better communicate with their gods, to the widespread use of caffeine under various forms (energy drinks, tablets, etc.