The Swedish Parliament has voted to campaign against a Council of Europe resolution that upholds the right of medical personnel not to perform abortions.

In a vote last week, Swedish parliamentarians voted 271 to 20 to instruct the Swedish delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Coucil of Europe (PACE) to work to change the relevant resolution.

That resolution, passed last October, protects conscientious objection, said: “No person, hospital or institution shall be coerced, held liable or discriminated against in any manner because of a refusal to perform, accommodate, assist or submit to an abortion”.

Lobbying by Irish independent Senator, Ronan Mullen, among others had helped pass the final (amended) version of that resolution.

The Swedish motion says that Swedish members of the Council of Europe “should support efforts which makes abortions free, safe and legal for all women”.

In Sweden, there is no right of conscientious objection to abortion for health-care workers.

The motion adds that Sweden is one of few countries that are central “in the international work focusing on sexual and reproductive health and rights”.

The PACE resolution had been significantly amended, and the original text had actually been intended to restrict the right of doctors to refuse to perform abortions on conscientious grounds.

The vote was on a report, drafted by British representative Christine McCaffery, which in its original form was intended to severely restrict the right of medical workers to refuse to perform abortions and euthanasia.

However, due to the work of Senator Mullen and Italian representative Luca Volonte, among others, a series of amendments which radically altered the document were passed, despite the fact that the original document had been widely expected to succeed.

The original report said that conscientious objection should be limited to doctors and nurses but not to medical institutions like hospitals, that doctors and nurses with an objection to a procedure such as abortion must refer the patient to someone who does not have such an objection, and that in ‘emergencies’ they must carry out the procedures themselves.

The report, previously entitled “Women’s access to lawful medical care: the problem of unregulated use of conscientious objection”, had also suggested that States should compel health-care providers to perform euthanasia on patients under certain circumstances and that a ‘registry of conscientious objectors’ be created.

Twenty nine amendments were tabled to the report, however, transforming the report into a resolution affirming the right to conscientiously object to abortion.

The final resolution of the report read: “no person and no hospital or institution shall be coerced, held liable or discriminated against in any manner because of a refusal to perform, accommodate, assist or submit to an abortion […]”.

Ms McCafferty, the original author of the report, was forced to vote against the final resolution due to its radical transformation.

The report was initially entitled “Women’s access to lawful medical care: the problem of unregulated use of conscientious objection” but eventually changed to “The right to conscientious objection in lawful medical care”.

The text approved by the Swedish Parliament last week reads: “The resolution 1763 (2010), adopted October 7, 2010, by the Parliamentary Assembly of the European Council, implies that health care workers should have the possibility to choose not to perform abortions.

“The position of the standing committee, has been expressed in the commission report 2009/10:UU15, “Human rights in Swedish Foreign Policy”. The standing committee stands firm that Sweden should support efforts which makes abortions free, safe and legal for all women.

“Sweden is one of few countries who are central in the international work focusing on sexual and reproductive health and rights. The Swedish policy on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights remains stable. The standing committee notices that the issue of abortion is not covered by the EU treaty. The standing committee remain negative to the content of Resolution 1763 (2010) and consider the [Swedish] delegation to take more action to accomplish a change of this resolution.”