Cardinal Jean-Claude Hollerich, president of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union, is pictured in a file photo during a news conference at the Vatican.
Photo: CNS. In a letter released on February 25, the EU bishops said that the resolution, passed on November 26, 2020, would have “a very negative impact” on the way that the European Union (EU) is seen by member states.
The European Parliament, the EU’s law-making body, passed the resolution by 455 votes to 145 after Poland’s top court ruled that a 1993 law permitting abortion for foetal abnormalities was unconstitutional.
The resolution lamented what it called a “de facto ban on the right to abortion in Poland”.
Before the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling on October 22, Polish law permitted abortion only in cases of rape or incest, a risk to the mother’s life, or foetal abnormality.
Publication
Following the publication of the ruling on January 27, abortion will continue to remain legal in cases of rape or incest and risk to the mother’s life.
In their letter dated February 22, the bishops said: “From a legal perspective we wish to underline that neither European Union legislation nor the European Convention on Human Rights provide for a right to abortion. This matter is left up to the legal systems of the member states.”
The letter was addressed to David Maria Sassoli, president of the European Parliament, and signed by members of the standing committee of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE).
The EU bishops underlined the Catholic Church’s support for women facing difficult pregnancies as well as for the protection of unborn life.
They suggested that the resolution downplayed “a fundamental principle of European Union” known as the “principle of conferral”, which confines the EU to acting within limits agreed by member states.
“As the Parliament’s resolution rightly stresses, respect for the rule of law is essential for the functioning of the Union. That being said, the rule of law also requires respect for the competences of the member states and the choices made by them in the exercise of their exclusive competences,” the bishops wrote.
Resolution
They said that the resolution also appeared to question the right to conscientious objection.
“This is particularly worrying considering that in the healthcare sector conscientious objectors are in many cases subject to discrimination. In our view, such unjust stigmatisation should not be promoted,” they said.
The bishops also expressed concern that the principle of “non-discrimination”, highlighted in the resolution, could be used to “stretch or blur the limits” of the EU’s authority over member states.
COMECE, founded in 1980, consists of bishops delegated by the bishops’ conferences of the 27 member states of the European Union.
In the letter, the bishops alluded to mass protests in Poland in the wake of the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling
The bishops said: “We also noted with sadness that no condemnation or solidarity was expressed in the text with regard to the unacceptable attacks on churches and places of worship in the context of protests related to this law in Poland.”