{"id":247972,"date":"2021-06-24T18:37:31","date_gmt":"2021-06-24T23:37:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=247972"},"modified":"2021-06-24T17:29:52","modified_gmt":"2021-06-24T22:29:52","slug":"eu-parliament-votes-support-abortion-fundamental-right","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/eu-parliament-votes-support-abortion-fundamental-right\/","title":{"rendered":"EU Parliament labels abortion a fundamental right, compares objectors to ‘flat earthers’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The European Union (EU) Parliament voted<\/a> Thursday in favor of classifying abortion as a fundamental human right, putting pressure on pro-life member states to decriminalize abortion and remove the right of conscientious objection from pro-life medical professionals.<\/p>\n

The Report<\/a> on the situation of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the EU, in the frame of women’s health, caused enormous debate and led to more than 500 amendments from members of Parliament with two alternative texts submitted by pro-life MEPs, according to Politico<\/a>. Despite pressure from pro-life members and citizens, the report received overwhelming support in May from the Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.<\/p>\n

Introduced by S&D MEP Fred\u00a0Mati\u0107, the report calls for guaranteed access to sexual and reproductive health, including fertility treatments for single women and lesbian couples, maternity care, and abortion. The report also pushes for sex education for children in primary and secondary schools, which has been shown to have negative consequences<\/a> for children.<\/p>\n

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This picture taken on May 27, 2019 in Zagreb, shows Croatian Social Democratic Party (SDP) MP Predrag Fred Matic, newly elected Croatian member of the European parliament (MEP). (Photo by STR \/ AFP via Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

It does not require, but calls for member states \u2014\u00a0including pro-life Poland<\/a> and Malta<\/a> \u2014\u00a0to legalize abortion. It also calls for the removal of conscience protections in any member nations that have legalized abortion but allow pro-life doctors to refuse committing them. It states that any refusal to commit\u00a0abortions “on grounds of religion or conscience endangers women’s lives and rights.”<\/p>\n

Mati\u0107 alleged that he received hate mail over the report \u2014 including fetal models that were mailed to members of Parliament, which he referred to as “little fetus dolls” \u2014 but says he did not allow pro-lifers to “intimidate” him. He said he hopes pro-lifers will “one day… walk off the edge of their flat earth,” revealing his disdain for pro-lifers and attempting to connect long-debunked theories to pro-life beliefs. The difference is that it is scientific fact<\/em> that abortion kills living preborn human beings. Here, for example, is video footage of a human being eight weeks after fertilization in the womb:<\/p>\n