The spectre of a right to abortion being inserted into the EU Charter on Fundamental Rights haunted a Brussels conference of the European pro-life movement Wednesday, February 8th, at the Stanhope Hotel.
Hosted by the Royal Institute for European Affairs and the One Of Us initiative, the gathering brought together an international collection of pro-life advocacy groups, think tanks, and politicians from across the continent to respond to the looming legislative threat.
At a largely EPP-dominated event, speakers were told how abortion as a fundamental human right would be incongruent with the EU’s founding ethos, human dignity, and a risk to general European unity.
Despite abortion being seen as a largely settled issue on the continent, legalised in most jurisdictions, the overthrow of Roe v. Wade in America and the rise of nationalism has energised the abortion lobby into attempting to enshrine the right to abortion in EU legislation. Last year, the European Parliament voted in favour of inserting abortion into the Charter, with the move needing a unanimity of nations to fully pass.
The event was divided into three separate panels, each dealing with an individual aspect of the ongoing legislative, political, and moral fight: the Christian Democratic vision of the EU’s founding fathers, the legislative pathway ahead for the amendment, and consequences should it pass.
Among the speakers platformed were former Slovenian and Slovakian Prime Ministers Alojz Peterle and H.E. Eduard Heger, Spanish MEP Isabel Benjumea and her EPP colleague Miriam Lexmann as well as Fratelli’s Elisabetta Gardini.
Imre von Habsburg-Lorraine, Archduke of Austria, offered an alternative vision of the European project in line with his forebearer Otto von Habsburg, respecting the Continent’s heritage, its civilisational mission, and the dignity of the individual.
Political Director to the Hungarian Prime Minister’s Office Balázs Orbán defended his government’s pro-life and pro-natalist record, earning applause from the audience.
Isabel Benjumea criticised the EU Parliament’s overemphasis on abortion to the detriment of genuine human rights abuses, joined by EPP President of the Portuguese People’s Party Nuno Melo, though both were asked about the EPP’s failure to stop the push for abortion by audience members.
In a panel on the legal principles of the EU Charter, Slovakian MEP Miriam Lexmann compared the progressive relativist ideology of today to what was seen in the former Eastern bloc. Guests were warned that an abortion amendment in the Charter would threaten any limits on abortion and open up the risk of further funding for abortion services.
MEPs were probed about their commitment to the EU in the face of its overwhelming progressive bias and the risk federalism or centralisation of powers posed during a brief concluding question-and-answer session. MEPs defended their pro-EU positions on the basis that forcing abortion on member states would break the principle of EU subsidiarity and is unlikely due to the need for unanimity among nations for the insertion of abortion into the Charter.
The conference ended with guests standing for a rendition of “Ode to Joy”—perhaps some well-meaning nostalgia for a European project that no longer exists.
