A group of over 100 MEPs and parliamentary assistants tried to block participants from attending a conference on abortion at the European Parliament last week.

Organised by the pro-life European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ), the conference featured leading speakers in the fields of law and politics, including Spanish MEP, Margarita de la Pisa, Grégor Puppinck, ECLJ Director, and Dr Andrew Ekonomou, an attorney at the American Center for Law and Justice, ACLJ, in Washington.

However, according to a press statement from the ECLJ, the conference “triggered the anger of the left which tried to intimidate us with illegal demonstrations both inside and in front of the European Parliament”.

“In the end, the conference could take place and the public could participate by entering through a back door, protected by the security of the Parliament,” the spokesperson said.

He added: “The fight for abortion is global. In each country, active and noisy minorities try to impose an ideological vision of abortion. Pressure groups are working at different levels to liberalise abortion in Europe. Without fear of contradiction, they present abortion as a harmless medical act that should be protected as a fundamental right. This ideological bloc that promotes abortion as a fundamental right does not respond to the real needs of women. It does not listen to them, it does not really want to help them”.