The right to abortion is a fundamental right, the European Union member states must make abortion completely unpunishable, and the EU funding of groups and organizations opposed to abortion must be terminated, declared the representatives of the European Parliament in a resolution adopted at the EP plenary session in Brussels on Thursday.
In the non-legislative resolution adopted with 336 votes, 163 against and 39 abstentions, the MEPs supporting the text stated:
the right to abortion should also be enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
In their view, Article 3 of the EU's Charter of Fundamental Rights should be amended to state: "everyone has the right to bodily autonomy and to free, informed, full and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and to all related health services without discrimination, including access to safe and legal abortion”.
They condemned the rollback of women's rights and attempts to limit or eliminate existing protections for sexual and reproductive health and rights and gender equality. In the text, member states were urged to, in accordance with the 2022 guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO)
fully decriminalize abortion or remove obstacles to abortion. They called on Poland and Malta to repeal their laws and measures prohibiting and restricting abortion.
They condemned the fact that in some Member States doctors, and even in some cases entire medical institutions, refuse abortions citing reasons of "conscience", often also in situations where the delay could endanger the life or health of the woman concerned. The resolution also mentions that medical abortion is not legal in Slovakia and Hungary, and in September 2022, Hungary adopted a decree according to which women applying for an abortion must listen to the "heartbeat of their fetus".
According to the EP, abortion methods and procedures should be a mandatory part of the curriculum of doctors and medical students. Member States should ensure access to a full range of sexual and reproductive health and health services, including comprehensive and age-appropriate sex and relationship education. Accessible, safe and free contraceptive methods and preparations, as well as family planning counseling, should be provided, paying particular attention to vulnerable groups, they wrote.
The MEPs who voted for the resolution expressed their concern that "in the world, including in Europe, the financing of anti-gender and anti-abortion groups has been significantly increased", therefore
called on the European Commission to use all available means to ensure that organizations fighting gender equality and women's rights, including reproductive rights, do not receive EU funding.
Member States and local governments should increase their spending on programs and subsidies for health and family planning services, they added.
MTI
