Tomorrow, the European Parliament will vote on the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘My Voice, My Choice’, which aims to use EU citizens’ tax money to fund ‘safe and accessible abortions’ for women with unwanted pregnancies in countries where prenatal infanticide is either prohibited or restricted.
Criticism of the initiative comes shortly before the vote from the Catholic EU Bishops’ Commission Comece. Referring to the teachings of the Catholic Church, a statement released on Tuesday evening states that ‘human life must be respected and protected from the moment of conception.’
Sole competence of EU Member States
According to the EU treaties, the legal regulation of abortion falls within the sole competence of EU member states. The EU bishops are concerned that the ‘My Voice, My Choice’ initiative represents an attempt to circumvent national competences and the principle of subsidiarity for ideological reasons in a ‘highly polarised context’. A financial support mechanism should not have the aim or effect of ‘undermining the public order of Member States, nor, more generally, the health policy and ethical decisions that Member States have taken within the framework of their competences in the field of health care’.
Furthermore, it is believed ‘that women in vulnerable life situations need forms of support other than those proposed by this and similar initiatives to facilitate abortion’. The EU Bishops’ Commission therefore expresses ‘serious concerns about the overall objective’ of the initiative and calls on Members of the European Parliament to ‘take responsibility and consider the implications of this initiative in the current context’ when casting their votes.
Abortions are not an essential health service
The COMECE bishops also emphasise that the collective term ‘sexual and reproductive health and rights’ cannot include abortions as an essential health service that should be made universally available. ‘A medical procedure of such magnitude and with such far-reaching ethical implications cannot and must not be normalised.’ Other legal frameworks based on ethical policy decisions by Member States are both possible and legitimate. MEPs must therefore prevent an ‘unjustified extension of existing EU health programmes’. The abortion debate does not need further ideological division, but rather a prudent policy ‘that truly protects and supports women while preserving unborn human life.’
The ‘My Voice, My Choice’ initiative, lavishly funded by the abortion lobby, was officially accepted by the EU Commission as a ‘European Citizens’ Initiative’ at the beginning of September after it reached the required quorum and collected more than 1.2 million signatures in the member states of the European Union.
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