On Thursday the European Parliament approved a resolution to ask for sexual and reproductive health care and the right to free, safe and legal abortion to be included in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union: «The deprivation of access to abortion care constitutes a violation of these rights fundamentals”, says the resolution. The text was approved with 336 votes in favour, 163 against and 39 abstentions. The resolution, however, is not binding, and any amendment to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union must be approved unanimously by all member states.
With today’s vote, parliament is asking to amend Article 3 of the Charter, to state that «all people have the right to self-determination over their own bodies, to free, informed, complete and universal access to sexual and reproductive health and to related health services without discrimination, including access to safe and legal abortion.” The deputies then condemned the retreat in terms of women’s rights and the various attempts to limit or remove existing protections in terms of sexuality and reproduction made recently by several countries, including the United States, Poland, Hungary and Malta.
The text then asks the countries of the Union to completely decriminalize abortion in accordance with the 2022 World Health Organization guidelines and to remove and combat obstacles to abortion, including by explicitly calling on Poland and Malta to repeal their laws and other measures that prohibit or limit access to the procedure.
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Finally, the resolution condemns the fact that, in some member states, access to abortion is complicated due to conscientious objection. Italy is mentioned in this regard.
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According to the European Parliament, abortion methods and procedures should be a mandatory part of the curriculum of doctors and medical students; comprehensive, age-appropriate sexuality and relationship education should be introduced in each country; accessible, safe and free contraceptive methods and family planning advice should be made available.
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The text also contains concern about the significant increase in funding for anti-choice (therefore anti-abortion) groups around the world, and in particular in the European Union. This is why Parliament called on the European Commission to ensure that organizations working against gender equality and women’s rights, including reproductive rights, do not receive European funding.
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