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Plenary chamber of the European Parliament, Strasbourg, FranceHadrian/Shutterstock

STRASBOURG, France (LifeSiteNews) – The Parliament of the European Union (EU) has backed a resolution urging U.S. President Joe Biden and his administration to “strengthen their efforts and to continue to support abortion rights” as the Supreme Court deliberates overturning Roe v. Wade.

In a landslide ballot, Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) voted 364–154 in favor of the “Global threats to abortion rights: the possible overturn of abortion rights in the US by the Supreme Court” resolution which petitions the president to “ensure that abortion and contraception are integrated within the provision of age-appropriate and comprehensive SRHR [sexual and reproductive health ‘rights’] information, education and services, and that they are accessible to all.”

The resolution also “strongly condemns” an apparent “backsliding in women’s rights and SRHR taking place globally,” namely the potential for Roe to be overturned, with the Parliament expressing its “firm support” of the supposed “fundamental human right” of abortion.

Within the document, MEPs described lack of access to abortion for a woman as them “being forced to carry their pregnancy to term against their will,” which they wrote “is a violation of human rights and a form of gender-based violence.”

Stressing a “deep concern” about the global impact of overturning Roe, the Parliament warned of a “chilling effect,” owing to potential cuts in U.S. funding for abortion overseas.

RELATED: Biden says he may take executive action to ensure abortion access if Supreme Court overturns Roe

Commenting on the European Parliament’s decision to involve itself in discussions around the U.S. Supreme Court leaked draft opinion regarding abortion, Father Manuel Barrios Prieto, the general secretary of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE), condemned the resolution as “an unacceptable interference in the democratic jurisdictional decisions of a sovereign state.”

In a June 8 statement, Prieto expressed his surprise that the EU would consider meddling with the internal American matter, noting that since the U.S. is “not a member state of the EU … this interference will only discredit this institution.”

The Spanish cleric reminded European lawmakers that there is “no recognized right to abortion in European or International Law. Therefore, no State can be obliged to legalize abortion, or to facilitate it, or be instrumental to perform it.”

“The EU should respect the legislative competences of its Member States and the principle of conferral whereby the Union shall act only within the limits of the competences conferred upon it by the Member States in the Treaties to attain the objectives set out therein,” Prieto added.

The European Parliament has a record of support for reclassifying abortion as “reproductive health” and a “human right.” In June last year, MEPs voted in favor of the pro-abortion Matić report, subsequently declaring that “sexual and reproductive health rights [are] a fundamental pillar of women’s rights and gender equality that cannot in any way be watered down or withdrawn.”

The report also purports to define a doctor’s conscientious objection to abortion as the “denial of medical care.”

Accordingly, the Parliament urged EU member states “to ensure women are offered high quality, comprehensive and accessible SRHR, and to remove all barriers impeding them from using these services.”

Furthermore, according to a C-Fam report, the EU is backing a United Nations (UN) General Assembly resolution which reframes abortion as a “human right” for the first time. While abortion has been promoted in prior UN resolutions, implementing access to abortion has always been considered an individual state issue.

However, the report states that a resolution is being negotiated that would include the promotion of “safe abortion where such services are permitted by national law,” characterizing the “service” as part of “the human rights of all women.”

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