Politics
Monday February 12, 2007
Swedish Proposal to Abort Children of Foreign Nationals Draws Criticism
EU law professor suggests Sweden might find itself in violation of sovereign rights of other nations
TODAY'S HEADLINES
E-MAIL
PRINT
By John-Henry Westen
STOCKHOLM, February 12, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - An impending amendment to the current Abortion Act in Sweden will allow Swedish abortionists to abort the children of women from other countries, including countries which protect the right to life of their unborn citizens. The controversial measure which would offer abortion-on-demand during the first eighteen weeks of pregnancy, has drawn criticism from a noted professor of EU legislation and international pro-life leaders.
Swedish Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Mr Göran Hägglund announced the coming legislation last month. In response, Ulf Bernitz a professor of European Union Law at Stockholm University was quoted in the nation's second largest paper, Svenska Dagbladet, Friday referring to the proposed abortion amendment as lacking in "judicial reason".
The government says that the new legislative proposal is being urged by the European Union. However, Professor Bernitz called the suggestion, "almost bizarre." He said, "It is totally wrong that EU would demand that Sweden would supply care which is illegal in other countries. It is almost bizarre."
The EU law professor also suggested that Sweden might find itself in violation of the sovereign rights of other nations should it follow the proposed course. "Sweden might get in trouble if it introduces a legislation that causes conflict with other countries' legislation," he said.
That concern was echoed in a letter sent to Minister Hägglund yesterday by the International Right to Life Federation. "The International pro-life community finds this proposal intolerable and an affront to national sovereignty," said the letter a copy of which was obtained by LifeSiteNews.com. "How can you propose that your country imposing your views in favour of abortion on other nations, by aborting the children of foreign nationals, when their countries uphold the right to life of unborn children, and thus consider those unborn children citizens?"
The letter concluded: "It is an affront to other nations to kill their citizens on your soil, even if the Swedish government does not recognize those foreign citizens as persons, if they are considered such by foreign nations, you should at least respect their sovereignty regarding determination of personhood and citizenship."
To express concerns to Swedish Health Minister Göran Hägglund
See the coverage (in Swedish) from Svenska Dagbladet:
http://www.svd.se/dynamiskt/inrikes/did_14589803.asp
Back to TopLatest Headlines
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase out Lab Rats
- Ohio Supreme Court Allows Planned Parenthood to Conceal Abortion Records in Sexual Abuse Case
- LifeSiteNews Canada Day and Independence Day Message. Taking a few days off. LSN returns Monday July 6
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Pro-Life Groups Announce New Colorado Personhood Initiative
- Judge Puts Kibosh on DC Gay "Marriage" Referendum
- Al Franken Win Hands Supermajority to Senate Democrats
- Group Funded by Canadian Bishops' D&P Joins with Others to Denounce the "Natural Family" and "Family Rights"
- Financially Troubled Planned Parenthood of El Paso Closes Doors
- Abortion Linked to Subsequent Pre-Term Births, New Research Again Confirms
- New Orleans Homosexual Couple Ask Fed. Court to Overturn Marriage Amendment
- Slim Hope Of New Ontario Progressive Conservative Party Leader Promoting Pro-Life, Pro-Family Issues
- Pope Accepts Resignation of Bishop Caught Involved in Homosexual Encounters
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- Northern Ireland Politician Cleared of Wrongdoing after Reiterating Christian Teaching on Homosexual Acts
- UK Conservative Leader Speaks at Gay Pride Fundraiser
- More Letters to the Editor on Canadian Catholic Development and Peace Scandal (July 1)
- Letters to the Editor - Readers Respond to Development and Peace Scandal
- Watch This Dramatic New Video on Catholic Bishops Conference Funding of Pro-Abortion Groups
Most Read this Week
- Homosexual Duke U. Director Charged with Offering Adopted 5-Year-Old for Sex
- Famed Fr. Corapi Calls Canadian Bishops' Dissent from Humanae Vitae "Catastrophic"
- Pope: It is a Childish Faith to Oppose the Church Teaching on Life and Family
- LifeSiteNews Detailed Response to Canadian Bishops' Whitewash Report on Development and Peace
- Is Pro-Choice the New Pro-Life?
- Heroically Pro-Life Brazilian Archbishop's Resignation Accepted Under Cloud of Vatican Newspaper Misrepresentation
- Young Children Removed from UK Schools for "Inappropriate Sexual Behaviour"
- General Electric to Use Embryonic Stem Cells for Testing, Phase Out Lab Rats
- Swedish Parents Won't Tell if Child is Boy or Girl as Gender Experiment
- Cardinal Rigali: You Can't Claim to be "Reducing Abortions" but Publicly Funding them in D.C.
MORE NEWS: 
LifeSiteNews.com Home Page Last 10 Days Archives Special Reports
Copyright © LifeSiteNews.com. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivatives License. You may republish this article or portions of it without request provided the content is not altered and it is clearly attributed to "LifeSiteNews.com". Any website publishing of complete or large portions of original LifeSiteNews articles MUST additionally include a live link to www.LifeSiteNews.com. The link is not required for excerpts. Republishing of articles on LifeSiteNews.com from other sources as noted is subject to the conditions of those sources.