Ruadhán Jones
The Council of Europe’s commission for human rights is ignoring medicine and rights in favour of ideology, the Pro Life Campaign (PLC) has said, after the commission called for Ireland and other EU states to remove “harmful barriers” to abortion.
It is “ideology versus science and medicine and experience” that motivates such calls, PLC spokesperson Eilís Mulroy told The Irish Catholic.
This ideological approach has become common across EU and UN bodies that “you would expect to uphold human rights”, she added.
“Instead they’re putting pressure on Ireland and other countries to ‘liberalise’ abortion laws.”
They are “not doing the job they should be doing in terms of upholding human rights. The need to protect the very vulnerable people in the community”, especially unborn children, Ms Mulroy added.
Her comments came after the commission criticised countries for having abortion laws that they said “impose” mandatory waiting periods in a report on the treatment of women’s reproductive and sexual health in the EU.
“In most member states, a range of regulatory, policy and practical barriers continue to hinder access to abortion care in practice,” the Commissioner for Human Rights Ms Dunja Mijatovic said.
“These include medically unnecessary restrictions such as short time limits for abortion on request, third-party authorisation requirements, restrictions on access to medication abortion, and restrictions on who can provide and manage abortion that are inconsistent with WHO guidance.”
The commissioner also criticised the North’s provision of so-called “abortion care”, saying its conscientious objection laws “hinder timely access to care”.
The commissioner called for EU member states to “repeal laws and policies that criminalise abortion, so as to remove all criminal penalties for consensual abortion, including for anyone who undergoes abortion, assists with access to abortion or provides abortion care”.
Their call came after France made the “shocking” move to enshrine rights to abortion in the countries constitution.
Ms Mulroy warned that there are a number of referenda coming up around the world that would see similar efforts to enshrine ‘abortion rights’.