The European Parliament has rejected a controversial draft resolution recognising abortion as a ‘right’ and has sent it back to committee to be redrafted.

The resolution, which was in part written by International Planned Parenthood Federation, insisted that abortion is a fundamental right and attacks the right of doctors to conscientiously object to facilitating abortions.

The EP voted by 351 votes to 318 that it be sent back to the committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality.  
In a statement, European Dignity Watch, which campaigns for family and life issues at EU level said that the Parliament had sent “a clear signal that this radical approach is not shared by the majority”.

Sophia Kuby, the executive director of EDW said: “We are very happy that not only Parliament came to its senses today with regards to sexual and reprductive health, but also that the voice of 1.4 Million citizens who signed the European Citizen Initiative ‘One of Us’ for a greater protection of human dignity are heard and represented in today’s decision.”

The resolution, introduced by Portuguese socialist MEP Edite Estrela, and adopted by the Committee on “Women’s Rights and Gender Equality” also claimed that adolescents have a “right to confidentiality” as regards ‘sexual and reproductive health’ implying that parents have no right to be informed.

The resolution condemned “the abuse of conscientious objection” in relation to abortion and calls on Member States to “regulate and monitor the use of conscientious objection”.

It also condemned “medically unnecessary waiting periods” that is to say a period of reflection between the request for an abortion and the abortion itself and what it calls “overly restrictive interpretations of existing limits” to abortion in Ireland, Malta and Poland.

The resolution also falsely claimed that abortion is a human right guaranteed by international law.

The draft resolution goes beyond the competences of the European Union which has recognised that it is for Member States to develop and implement policy on abortion.

The European Parliament is not empowered to make policy for the European Union; that power is reserved for the European Commission.