Abortion rights remain severely restricted in EU countries (Representative)
Brussels, Belgium:
European lawmakers on Thursday backed calls to include abortion in the European Union’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, a symbolic move after France enshrined abortion rights in its constitution.
The European Parliament passed the non-binding resolution by 336 votes to 163 with support from centrist and left-wing groups.
But the right to “safe and legal abortion” has little chance of being included in the EU’s legally binding charter, which requires unanimous consent from the bloc’s 27 countries.
Abortion rights remain severely restricted in EU countries, including Catholic Poland and Malta. Polish lawmakers debated relaxing abortion laws on Thursday, but divisions in the ruling coalition left the outcome uncertain.
The vote in the EU parliament comes after France last month became the first EU country to enshrine abortion rights in its constitution.
French President Emmanuel Macron said at the time that he would push for abortion to be included in the EU Charter of Rights.
The EU debate comes as abortion rights in the United States come under increasing scrutiny after the U.S. Supreme Court struck down nationwide rights to terminate pregnancies in 2022.
During the European Parliament vote, far-left French MEP Manon Aubry condemned “far-right and reactionary attacks on the resolution.”
“The right to abortion is not a matter of opinion – it is a human right,” she told parliament. “Abortion rights don’t kill people, they save lives.”
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
