The European Centre for Law and Justice (ECLJ) recently sent a letter to the President of the European Commission, highlighting several concerns regarding a proposed initiative that would allow abortion tourism in the European Union (EU).
According to an ECLJ press release, the “My Voice My Choice” initiative would allow European women to travel for abortions if the abortion is illegal in their home country, enabling them to circumvent laws that ban abortions after fetal viability or abortions because the unborn child was diagnosed with a disability, for example. The abortions would be covered by taxpayer funds paid out by the EU. The European Commission is set to make a decision on the initiative Feb. 25.
In its letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and several other European commissioners, the ECLJ pointed out several technical issues with the initiative. According to the release, the organization noted that the EU “has no competence over abortion but does have competence to support motherhood.”
The ECLJ also raised concerns in the letter and in a European Parliament conference that the funding behind the initiative comes from large, wealthy foundations that push an agenda rather than from small grassroots organizations. In the release, the ECLJ said that the proposal’s initiators do not “claim” the funding “because they are not proud of it.”
In the release, the ECLJ highlighted the testimony of a woman who underwent an abortion and is now petitioning the European Parliament to strengthen support for mothers and protect “the dignity of women and unborn children” in the EU. The organization also asserted in the release that the initiative “would have the predictable effect of destroying limits or safeguards on abortion in order to align legislation with the most lax countries.”
The ECLJ also noted that the European Commission dismissed a pro-life petition called “One of Us” that would have protected unborn life from conception, saying that the EU had no jurisdiction in that area. The organization is calling for the commission to apply its same reasoning to the My Voice My Choice initiative.