The European Parliament on Thursday called for abortion rights to be included in the European Union’s (EU) Charter of Fundamental Rights after a controversial ruling by the US Supreme Court ruled that it is not a federal constitutional right.
(Also read: Abortion in the US: The Recent Assault on Women’s Rights)
By a vote of 324 to 155, with 38 abstentions, MEPs decided to ask the European Council (representing the states of the bloc) to include this term in the Charter of Fundamental Rights. Affirming that “everyone has the right to benefit from safe and legal abortion”.
Pro-abortion protests in the United States.
The motion was accompanied by a condemnation by the European Parliament of “the decline in women’s rights (…), sexual and reproductive rights in the United States and in certain “member states” of the bloc.
On June 24, the US Supreme Court ended the federal legal guarantee of abortion nationwide. Now it’s up to the 50 states to decide on abortion.
(You may be interested in this: Biden’s battle with Supreme Court over civil rights backlash)
“EU countries must ensure access to safe, legal and free abortion services, pregnancy and maternity services, voluntary family planning, contraception, services for young people,” lawmakers stressed in a resolution.
They also called for support for “HIV prevention, treatment and support without discrimination”.
leadership support
Long before the planetary scandal caused by the US Supreme Court’s decision, the French President In January this year, Emmanuel Macron proposed including abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The EU Commissioner for Gender Equality, Helena Dalli, said in Parliament this Wednesday that “strong women’s rights are an asset and an essential feature of democracies”.
Emmanuel Macron called on the parties to join his government plan.
Therefore, he added: “Return is not an option for a continent that aspires to victory
Future”.
For his part, Stéphane Sejourné, leader of the centrist Renew bloc, called for “guaranteeing the women of Europe that no judge will be able to uproot these rights, and we should remind the reactionaries for what they really are: a Relic of the past that has no future. in the EU”.
international writing
*With information from AFP
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