European Parliament Classifies Laws against Abortion as “Violence Against Women and Girls”
On September 12, 2017, the European Parliament adopted a parliamentary report which charges “the denial of sexual and reproductive health and rights services, including safe and legal abortion, is a form of violence against women and girls” by a vote of 489 in favor, 114 opposed and 69 abstentions.
The actual text of the Convention opposes “performing an abortion on a woman without her prior and informed consent” – the only mention of abortion in the treaty. This fact, however, did not prevent two committees in the European Parliament- Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) and Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) – from issuing an appalling condemnation of laws against abortion and equating lack of legal access to abortion with violence against women and girls.
Also left out of the report is any recognition or condemnation of sex selection abortion – the first act of violence in the life cycle that targets unborn baby girls for elimination simply because they are female. The shocking vote by a legislative body that is supposed to respect sovereignty on abortion, and includes lawmakers from countries with pro-life policies, occurred during endorsement of the European Union’s accession to the Istanbul Convention, – the Council of Europe’s treaty to prevent and combat violence against women and girls.
The Interim Report on the proposal for a Council decision on the conclusion, by the European Union, of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, issued by Rapporteurs Christine Revault D’Allonnes Bonnefoy and Anna Maria Corazza Bildt, disregards national laws against abortion. The extreme pro-abortion text states: “4. Strongly affirms that the denial of sexual and reproductive health and rights services, including safe and legal abortion, is a form of violence against women and girls; reiterates that women and girls must have control over their bodies and sexualities; calls on all the Member States to guarantee comprehensive sexuality education, ready access for women to family planning, and the full range of reproductive and sexual health services, including modern contraceptive methods and safe and legal abortion”.
The text and its claim that “denial of safe and legal abortion” is a form of violence led MEP Steven Woolfe from the UK to rise from his seat during the discussion and to ask for the legal team behind the report to review the text again out of concern that this section of the report “could effectively make it a criminal offence for anyone who believes in the reduction of abortion” and to determine if “millions of people in the European Union as a result of this could be deemed a criminal immediately upon this vote”.
Mr Woolfe took to Facebook to further express his shock posting a video and this message: “Imagine a world where opposing abortion, for any reason, was not just a question of an opinion that others may detest or applaud, but instead constituted a criminal offence. Imagine if simply by expressing this sentiment, that you were a criminal, guilty of committing violence against women and girls… Now, regardless of what your view is on abortion, imagine what precedent this sets for other ideas that those in power dislike. Soon, you won’t need to imagine this world, because this is exactly what the European Union is trying to do…” Mr. Woolfe’s video ends with a statement of concern that the EU has reached a dangerous point that needs to be strongly challenged and that he is thankful that the UK is leaving the EU.
Source: Life Site News (Reprinted with permission)