At their plenary session in Strasbourg on Thursday 14 March, MEPs debated the inclusion of the right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.
Several of them spoke out in favour of this inclusion, highlighting the discrimination and dangers represented by the ban on abortion in certain countries, such as Malta, Poland and Hungary. MEPs such as Robert Biedroń (S&D, Polish) stressed the need for this to combat economic, social and gender discrimination. Karen Melchior (Renew Europe, Danish) stressed the importance of the freedom of use of one’s own body and Gwendoline Delbos-Corfield (Greens/EFA, French) linked the right to abortion to democracy and equality. Eugenia Rodríguez Palop (The Left, Spanish) and Predrag Fred Matić (S&D, Croatian) also defended this right in the face of criticism from Bert-Jan Ruissen (ECR, Dutch) and Isabel Benjumea Benjumea (EPP, Spanish), who highlighted the right to life and the protection of children.
Ms Benjumea Benjumea’s position illustrated the dissent within the EPP group, where speeches were often in favour of including the right to abortion in the Charter.
As a reminder, a few days after its inclusion in the French Constitution, this request, supported by the Renew Europe group, comes, in part, as a result of the wishes of the French President, Emmanuel Macron.
However, some critics, suspecting electoral motives behind the initiative, have expressed their reservations. Nathalie Colin-Oesterlé (EPP, French) recognised the need for safe and legal access to abortion as a key public health issue. However, she questioned the technical feasibility of enshrining the right to abortion in the Charter because of the need for unanimity among Member State governments, a considerable barrier given their varied positions.
Diana Riba i Giner (Greens/EFA, Spanish) strongly supported the inclusion of the right to abortion in the Charter as a human rights issue and a victory for feminism. “We’re not thanking Mr Macron for making this request, we asked for it last year; we’re thanking all the women here who have fought for our rights”, she said, adding, like Ms Colin-Oesterlé, that the French head of state and his German counterpart had opposed the introduction of consent in a European definition of rape as part of the directive against gender-based violence (see EUROPE 13344/24).
In July 2022, after it was challenged in the United States, the European Parliament called for the right to abortion to be enshrined in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. However, any revision of this Charter, which has the same legal value as the Treaties, would require the joint agreement of all the Member States, as the Commissioner for Cohesion and Reforms, Elisa Ferreira, pointed out.
A resolution will be put to the vote by MEPs at the next plenary session in April. (Original version in French by Nithya Paquiry)