Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: This article explores the concept of institutional freedom of conscience through a comparative analysis of two landmark decisions: Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores, Inc. (U.S. Supreme Court, 2014) and the Chilean Constitutional Tribunal’s 2017 ruling on the decriminalization of abortion on three grounds. By contrasting the reasoning of both majorities and dissents, the study reveals how the United States’ long jurisprudential development under the First Amendment may illuminate Chile’s nascent debate on institutional conscience. The analysis examines the conceptual link between individual and collective conscience, the limits of legal accommodations, and the so-called “anarchy argument” raised against exemptions to general laws. It concludes that Chilean constitutional discourse could benefit from a more nuanced understanding of the relationship between institutions and their members, drawing from a system that have faced similar tensions between conscience, law, and pluralism.
DOI: 10.7764/rldr.21.213
Author: Jorge Hagedorn Gaete
Institution: University of Notre Dame
Subfield: Law
Field: Social Sciences
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7117703156
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