News

By Hilary White

BRUSSELS, January 14, 2009 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A resolution has been passed today at the European Union that proposes to standardise among all member states the legal status of same-sex relationships.

Pro-life and pro-family leaders have called for a strong Christian response to the move that that will force EU member states to adopt same-sex “marriage” or civil unions and bring legalised abortion, even in countries who uphold legal protections for the unborn and in which only natural marriage is legally recognised.

The resolution, authored by Giusto Catania, an Italian Communist MEP, calls upon EU member-states to guarantee access to “sexual and reproductive health and rights,” terms universally accepted as including abortion and sterilisation as well as the recognition of same-sex unions. The resolution represents the next step in the work of European homosexualist activists who started last year with a declaration saying that same-sex “marriage” and civil union laws should be standardised across the EU to facilitate freedom of movement.

Article 75 of the resolution, which bases its arguments on the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights, calls for Member States with same-sex partnership legislation to “propose guidelines for mutual recognition of existing legislation between Member States in order to guarantee that the right of free movement within the European Union for same-sex couples applies under conditions equal to those applicable to heterosexual couples.”

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) issued a media release saying that the resolution represents a “soft-law” approach to the universal recognition of abortion as a human right.

Anthony Ozimic, political secretary of SPUC, said that despite the fact that not one international treaty or human rights court has recognised any such right, the resolution calls for abortion to be declared a right.

“Religious leaders and pro-life groups throughout Europe must shake off their complacency about the EU and mobilise religious believers for pro-life action,” Ozimic said. “The message everyone must hear is that the right to life is the most important political issue, because the right to life is the indispensable foundation of all other rights. Failure to act will mean that countless millions of unborn children will die because of the EU’s promotion of abortion both inside and outside Europe.”
 
  John Smeaton, SPUC’s director, wrote yesterday that the resolution is a threat to the unborn of Europe due to its promotion of “reproductive rights” and because it promotes an unauthentic model of the family by seeking to impose upon EU member-states the recognition of same-sex unions.