Abortion as a lifesaver? The EU Commission has fallen prey to the abortion lobby. Women, children and the European idea will pay the price. – A comment by Franziska Harter, editor-in-chief of the German weekly Die Tagespost.
EU Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib described yesterday’s decision by the European Commission on the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) ‘My Voice My Choice’ as ‘smart’. In other words, she claims to have found a way to circumvent the national legislation of member states while still being able to assert that she is remaining within her own remit.
From now on, individual member states that wish to do so can use funds from the European Social Fund (ESF+) to promote ‘safe and equal access to abortion’ – including for women who are not allowed to have an abortion in their own countries. In doing so, the European Commission is making abortion without penalty throughout Europe its own business. And that is indeed ‘groundbreaking,’ as Lahbib announced with a triumphant expression. Because every time an EU commissioner smirkingly congratulates himself on having found a way to undermine the substance of the European treaties, the European idea moves one step closer towards its final demise.
The legal regulation of abortion is the sole responsibility of the Member States. Hadja Lahbib’s loophole: with the ESF+, the Commission is only providing the instrument, but it is up to the individual Member States themselves to use it by setting up an ESF+ funding programme in their country however they like. If Germany were to do so, for example, Pro Familia could apply for a subsidy to set up a new abortion clinic on the Polish border. Thanks to EU funds, this clinic could also cover the travel costs for Polish women seeking abortions who are not allowed to have abortions in their own country due to restrictive Polish legislation. However, since all EU countries (must) contribute to the ESF+, Poland would be forced to finance something that is illegal according to domestic legislation via the European distribution mechanism.
In doing so, the European Commission is not only blatantly undermining the European principle of subsidiarity and the sovereignty of EU Member States, but it is also perverting the very purpose of the European Social Fund, namely to promote inclusion. Funds used to set up new abortion clinics are naturally no longer available for projects that enable poor and disadvantaged people to participate in society and integrate into the labour market. Given that many women choose to have an abortion for financial reasons, this is particularly macabre.
In any case, the champagne corks were popping at ‘My Voice My Choice’. The false narrative of the billion-dollar abortion lobby, which is also behind the citizens’ initiative, has successfully taken root in the heart of the European Union: abortion as a “lifesaver”. The fact that with every abortion someone is killed is no longer even worth mentioning. The Commission has also achieved the seemingly impossible feat of redefining abortion as medical care while keeping the Health Commissioner, Hungary’s Olivér Várhelyi, completely out of the matter. He would not have sided with the citizens’ initiative from the outset with such obvious bias.
The European Union’s fundamental values are based on the protection of every human life and human dignity. The Commission’s progressive social policy undermines the European idea and accepts that the conservative majority of EU citizens will go into inner exile. The fact that the Commission is clearly overstepping its own powers proves right those who are warning against the dissolution of nation states into a European super-state. In the current global political situation, it is not particularly wise to trample on the already fragile loyalty of EU citizens in this way.
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