Bioethical Issues by the Interuniversity Center for Bioethics Research (C.I.R.B.)
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Interuniversity Center for Bioethics Research Bioethical issues by the Interuniversity Center for Bioethics Research (C.I.R.B.) UNESCO Chair in Bioethics - 9th World Conference - Bioethics, Medical Ethics & Health Law towards the 21st Century - Naples, 19-21 November 2013 Il volume è stato pubblicato con il contributo del Centro Interuniversitario di Ricerca Bioetica di Napoli PROPRIETÀ LETTERARIA RISERVATA Tutti i diritti (traduzione, adattamento) sono riservati per tutti i Paesi. La riproduzione, anche parziale, e con qualsiasi mezzo (compresi microfilm e fotostatiche) è vietata. © Copyright novembre 2013 Editoriale Scientifica srl Via San Biagio dei Librai, 80138 - 39 Napoli ISBN 978-88-6342-596-3 SUMMARY Lorenzo Chieffi Introduction 5 THE RIGHTS OF THE TERMINALLY ILL Emilia D’Antuono Therapeutic obstinacy. Notes for an analysis of end-of-life 11 bioethical issues Lorenzo Chieffi Areas of constitutional protection and development of in- 27 terpretation of the right of the patient to the government of his own body. DISCUSSION ON BIRTH AND BEGINNING OF LIFE Emilia D’Antuono 49 Truth and meaning of the human embryo’s life: from ancient Greece to the contemporary bioethical debate Osvaldo Sacchi 69 The human embryo between res and person: an ontologi- cal perspective inspired from the legal debate of the ancient world Emilia Taglialatela 95 Bioethical issues at the beginning of life and female citizenship Maria Clelia Zurlo 113 The intersection of the logics of filiation in the context of beginning of life: a psychoanalytic approach Laura Tricomi 131 Parental responsibility and responsible parenthood: some re- flections about the instruments for the defense of children reference to medically assisted procreation in italian law. THE PLURALITY OF IDENTITY: GENDER ISSUES AND SEXUAL ORIENTATION Paolo Valerio, Immacolata Parisi, Fabiana Santamaria 143 Puberty blocking during developmental years: issues and dilemmas for gender-variant Adolescents Valeria Marzocco 157 Law and gender: how ambivalent is the legitimation gift? Fabio Corbisiero, Alessia Schisano 169 Beyond the boundaries of discrimination. An introduction to homosexual relationships. Francesca Dicé, Maria Auricchio, Immacolata Parisi, 181 Mariacarolina Salerno, Fabiana Santamaria, Paolo Valerio Disorders of sex Development: the frontiers in a scientific, bio- ethical and social debate Cristiano Scandurra, Simona Picariello, Anna Lisa Amo- deo, Francesco Muollo, Antonello Sannino, Paolo Valerio, Giuliana Valerio Heteronormativity, homophobia and transphobia in sport 195 Gianluca Gentile Homophobia between culture and criminal law 213 INTRODUCTION Lorenzo Chieffi* 1 The Interuniversity Centre for Bioethics Research is an or- ganism that devotes itself, with particular care, to the debate related to the application of the newest technologies to human being. The Centre includes the majority of Campania Region University, that is: Federico II, Second University of Naples, Suor Orsola Benincasa, Parthenope, L’Orientale, the Theologi- cal Faculty of Southern Italy-Section St. Thomas, all situated in Naples, with the addition of Salerno’s University. The objective is primarily to allow a fruitful dialogue between scholars of different cultural backgrounds in order to discover the balance between the multiple values involved. The noble exercise of the medical art, and generally of life sci- ences, need to be adapted to axiological catalogues, which are con- tained in the constitutions of countries with a longer democratic tradition, belonging to the Old Continent. The practice to use ample liberty of science and research, which obviously expresses an innate desire for knowledge, in order to contribute to the cultural and economic progress of the community of individuals, while being guaranteed to be wide in its speculative phase, will inevitably be subjected, in concrete practices, restrictions aimed at safeguarding the * Director of the Interuniversity Center for Bioethics Research of Naples (C.I.R.B.) 5 Lorenzo Chieffi physical and psychological integrity of the individual keeping his dignity. In the light of these fundamental principles which are placed on top of any legal system therefore it is since its foundation, in 1996, that the C.I.R.B. main aim is the spreading, in side covered Universities, of a correct information on the most debated bioethi- cal controversies such as in the field of procreation, transplantation, genetic engineering and of life treatment as well as the development of significant research projects which should be carried on follow- ing interdisciplinary procedures which necessitate a close collab- oration with prestigious academic institutions of other countries. With the intention of ensuring ample information on the most recent investigations carried out by scholars belonging to the CIRB, including those participating in the 9th World Conference on “Bioethics, Medical Ethics & Health Law towards the 21st Century”, its governing bodies have decided to extend as a tribute this volume containing a series of essays concerning issues some of which are at the center of the bioethical debate in Italy. Despite the undoubted opening offered by the legal system of our Country, situated in the Mediterranean, starting from the propensity of the 1948 Constitution towards the promotion of personal values, the legislator has sometimes failed in succeeding to meet the many expectations of those who were expecting a reg- ulation on the crucial stages concerning human existence. Irreconcilable conflicts between the political forces within the legislative assemblies have led to a radicalization of the multiple positions, religious or secular ones, that in so doing have prevent- ed a discipline still satisfying the relevant field that relates to the protection of so-called rights of the new generation. So, in case of limiting, in a few words, our attention to the topics covered in the work contained in this volume, in spite of the requests contained in the Oviedo Convention of 1997 and the safe space allowed by our Constitution, there is still a law degree val- ue of the right to self-determination of the terminally ill, through the regulation of advance of existence on the example of what is already provided in most European countries. 6 Introduction A similar gap in the law affects the regulation concerning re- lations between individuals of same sex in view of the persistent prejudices that continue to be a veil in view of an evolutionary interpretation of the constitutional provision, which takes mainly – but not exclusively – into consideration the family context based on marriage for reasons related to the historical moment (between 1946 and 1947) of its compilation. An increasing revaluation of social groups in which each individual expresses his personality and the same spaces are left to its self-determination, are permitted by this legal text could certainly facilitate together with an equal foreign experience a greater openness to the preservation of these new emotional relationships. Not less problematic has been the gestation of the existing laws on fertility treatment that led, much later than other European states, to the law no. 40 of 2004. Once again, the radicalization of positions, related to the discussion on the alleged legal “subjectiv- ity” of the embryo, has led to a prohibition of law [contrary to the artificial insemination by donor (AID), the surrogate one, but es- pecially to any pre-implantation genetic selection, also to ward off the use of stem cells or experimentation on embryos themselves] that, just five years after its entry into force, has forced our con- stitutional Court (judgment no. 151 of 2009) to delete the most significant parts, consistent with the fundamental principles of our basic legislation. This persistent or pervasive incompleteness, linked to a clear imprint of prohibition, the regulatory framework under consid- eration, has gradually called for a greater role of the judge-made law. In areas allowed by the existing legal order, the judge has tried to give answers to the many expectations, linked to the different moments of human existence, deriving from the community of in- dividuals, with all the drawbacks that inevitably result from a sys- tem of civil law, which is not characterized by the iron rule of the judicial “precedent” typical of common law legal systems. The des- tination of the rulings, which are designed to address only the case submitted to the court, the possible differences between them, de- spite the similarity of the cases, with the inevitable discrimination 7 Lorenzo Chieffi that could result from it, may give vent to some unsurpassed limits in the legal system, such as the Italian one, which continues to give special emphasis to the role of the law, considering the effects of “general” and “abstract” produced by them, as an expression of the organ embodying popular representation. In view of this interpretation, the essays that follow are in- tended to provide a concise reading of ethically sensitive issues still unresolved in Italy, for a variety of the foregoing reasons, hop- ing that a more careful comparison with the experience of oth- er political contexts and cultural rights may certainly be helpful to the maturation of a greater awareness of issues which are un- doubtedly central for life, especially for the expression of every human being dignity. Naples, 14 October 2013 8 The rights of the terminally ill THERAPEUTIC OBSTINACY. NOTES FOR AN ANALYSIS OF END-OF-LIFE BIOETHICAL ISSUES