(LifeSiteNews) — EU bishops have condemned the plan to include the “right to abortion” in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
The Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) issued a statement on April 9, ahead of the European Parliament’s vote on a Resolution for the “Inclusion of the right to abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights” scheduled for April 11, 2024.
“Abortion can never be a fundamental right,” COMECE stated. “The right to life is the fundamental pillar of all other human rights, especially the right to life of the most vulnerable, fragile and defenceless, like the unborn child in the womb of the mother, the migrant, the old, the person with disabilities and the sick.”
Citing the new Vatican declaration Dignitas Infinita, the European bishops wrote:
It must, therefore, be stated with all force and clarity, even in our time, that this defense of unborn life is closely linked to the defense of each and every other human right. It involves the conviction that a human being is always sacred and inviolable, in any situation and at every stage of development. Human beings are ends in themselves and never a means of resolving other problems. Once this conviction disappears, so do solid and lasting foundations for the defense of human rights, which would always be subject to the passing whims of the powers that be (Declaration “Dignitas Infinita” on Human Dignity, Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith, April 2024; n. 47).
“The European Union must respect the different cultures and traditions in the Member States and their national competences,” the statement continues. “The European Union cannot impose on others, inside and outside its borders, ideological positions on the human person, sexuality and gender, marriage and family, etc.”
The COMECE noted that “There is no recognized right to abortion in European or International Law, and the way this issue is treated in the Constitutions and Laws of Member States varies considerably.”
“As the Preamble states, the [EU] Charter [of Fundamental Rights] must respect ‘the diversity of the cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe,’ as also the ‘constitutional traditions and international obligations common to the Member States.’”
The Catholic Church has always taught that abortion is a grave sin, in accordance with the Fifth Commandment: “Thou shalt not kill.”
The Catechism of the Catholic Church states that “Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception.”
“Since the first century, the Church has affirmed the moral evil of every procured abortion,” the Catechism reads. “This teaching has not changed and remains unchangeable. Direct abortion, that is to say, abortion willed either as an end or a means, is gravely contrary to the moral law.”
In July 2022, shortly after the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in the Dobbs v. Jackson decision, the E.U. parliament adopted a resolution that demanded, among other things, to include “access” to abortion as a “right” into the EU Charter.
The push by the EU to fabricate a “right” to kill unborn children can be viewed as a response to the overturning of Roe and comes on the heels of France becoming the first country in the world that added abortion as a guaranteed “freedom” in its constitution.
READ: Macron vows to push abortion into EU rights charter after France enshrines it in constitution
CitizenGO launched a petition urging European Parliament members to vote against the pro-abortion resolution, which has gathered over 134,000 signatures to date. The petition can be signed here.