MEPs spoke to women activists working on sexual and reproductive health and rights on Wednesday 15 March. Scheduled the day after the judgment of Justyna Wydrzyńska in Poland, who was convicted of assisting a woman who was a victim of domestic violence to have an abortion (see EUROPE 13097/15), the debate largely focused on access to abortion in the EU.
Right to abortion
Indeed, all political groups, with the exception of ECR and ID, expressed their concerns about the rollback of the right to abortion in some EU countries, in particular Poland. Maria Noichl (S&D, German) praised the commitment of Polish activists who are filling a “gap” left by their government. These activists “will be the only guarantee as long as the European Union refuses to address the issue of access to abortion”, added Sylwia Spurek (Greens/EFA, Polish).
Women MEPs have denounced the lack of a reaction from the EU. “I cannot believe that neither the EU Council nor the European Commission has condemned what happened here yesterday [...]: for the first time in decades, in Europe, an activist has been convicted for helping a woman exercise her right to abortion”, said María Soraya Rodríguez Ramos (Renew Europe, Spanish). Malin Björk (The Left, Swedish) called on the Commission to launch a “strategy to defend sexual and reproductive health and rights defenders, women’s rights activists and LGBTI activists in Europe”.
In contrast to the other MEPs, Margarita de la Pisa Carrión (ECR, Spanish) and Christine Anderson (ID, German) defended the “right to life”.
The Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli and Jessika Roswall, Swedish Minister for European Affairs, recalled the EU’s limited competences in this area. However, while legislative powers related to health and sexual and reproductive rights lie with the Member States, they “must respect fundamental rights which bind them by virtue of their national constitutions and commitments under international law […] including Article 7 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights on respect for private life”, Ms Dalli stressed.
Violence against women
On violence against women’s rights activists, co-rapporteur Frances Fitzgerald (EPP, Irish) proposed that this be considered an aggravating circumstance in the directive to combat violence against women and domestic violence. “I call on the Council to agree to this proposal and to send a clear message that violence against human rights defenders is unacceptable”, she said.
Finally, in light of the “alarming attacks” on women and their rights, Ms Dalli welcomed the Council’s decision the previous week to impose sanctions on perpetrators of serious sexual and gender-based violence (see EUROPE 13136/9). (Original version in French by Hélène Seynaeve)