23/10/2009 (Agence Europe) - In some very tight votes (e.g. 292 votes in favour, 310 against and seven abstentions) on Thursday 22 October as part of the first reading of the draft general budget of the 2010, the European parliament rejected a series of amendments by the Conservative MEPs Nirj Deva of the UK and Konrad Szymanski of Poland, which aimed to exclude from receiving Community aid any authorities, organisation or programmes supporting or taking part in the management of actions involving any form of forcible abortion, involuntary sterilisation or infanticide, particularly if these actions are carried out by means of psychological, social, economic or legal pressure. The objective of these amendments was to bring in, in Europe, a rejection of funding UNFPA imposed by the neo-Conservatives in the United States. Other amendments by the same MEPs tended towards introducing a ban on eugenic discrimination based on gender, at any time after conception, so that foetuses can have rights immediately from conception, and towards banning support for any programme which would not ban abortion in all its forms, even in an emergency situation. If they had been adopted, these amendments would have constituted a major U-turn in the European Parliament position and called into question the reproductive health policy pursued by the European Community. (O.J./trans.fl)