Politics
Monday February 26, 2007
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Sweden: Church Leaders Warn Government Over “Abortion Tourism” Plan
By Gudrun Schultz
STOCKHOLM, Sweden, February 26, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) - Key Christian leaders in Sweden have warned the government that they will encourage voters to withdraw support from the Christian Democrat party in the next election, if a proposal to allow foreign women access to abortion centers in Sweden is passed into law.
Swedish Minister of Health and Social Affairs, Mr. Göran Hägglund, announced the proposed legislation last month. An amendment to the current Abortion Act, it would allow Swedish abortion centers to offer abortion on demand to foreign women, up to 18 weeks gestation.
In a statement issued last week, Catholic Bishop Anders Arborelius, and evangelical leader Sten-Gunnar Hedin with the Philadephia Church in Stockholm, warned the Christian Democrat’s that with the party’s current weak standing, Church-led opposition in the next election could topple the party, the Local reported Feb.25.
“We are sad that this proposal is backed by a Christian Democrat social affairs minister, Göran Hägglund. It is incomprehensible that he is supporting this proposal while claiming that it was required by the EU, something that this country’s leading EU law expert, Professor Ulf Bernitz, insists is not the case,” the statement said.
“If the Christian Democrats are ejected from the Riksdag it will undoubtedly have consequences for the Alliance.’
Bishop Arborelius and Mr. Hedin stated that if forced they would work together with a majority of Christian leaders in Sweden, “to work actively to reduce the chances of the Alliance being re-elected,” at the next general election in 2010.
“We appeal to the government not to force us to do this.”
They suggested the proposal was “abortion tourism” motivated by financial interests, since only well-off foreign women would have the means to travel to Sweden for an “abortion at all cost.”
“As Christians, we think there’s a whiff of hypocrisy when you say you want to help foreign women.”
While traditionally supported by Christian voters, the Christian Democrat party has lost popularity in recent opinion polls and is barely hanging on to the four percent essential for a position in the Riksdag.
The International Right to Life Federation expressed dismay over the proposal to Minister Hägglund last week, in a letter obtained by LifeSiteNews.com.
“The International pro-life community finds this proposal intolerable and an affront to national sovereignty,” the letter stated. 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?”
“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
goran.hagglund@social.ministry.se
See previous LifeSiteNews coverage:
Swedish Proposal to Abort Children of Foreign Nationals Draws Criticism
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/feb/07021202.html
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