A proposed EU report’s characterisation of abortion as a ‘human right’ has been assailed by COMECE, the representative body of Catholic bishops to the European Union.

The Matic report which is scheduled for a vote tomorrow also claims that “a total ban on abortion care or denial of abortion care is a form of gender-based violence.”

In a statement, the secretariat of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union expressed serious concern about the Report’s “one-sided perspective throughout, particularly on the issue of abortion,” because nowhere does it acknowledge that the life of the unborn child is at stake.

In addition, the bishops said that classifying abortion as an ‘essential health service’ that should be available to everyone, “is ethically untenable”.

“A medical intervention of such magnitude cannot and must not become a normal practice; its qualification as an essential service degrades the unborn child.”

“As Church, we are convinced that human life from the beginning, including unborn life, possesses its own dignity and independent right to protection,” the bishops said. “In the church’s view, abortion is not a means of family planning or part of ordinary health care.”

The bishops also noted “with concern and regret that the draft resolution negates the fundamental right to conscientious objection, which is an emanation of freedom of conscience.”