Abortion
- Staunchly Catholic populations in Ireland, Malta and Poland are opposed to abortion. Photo: Mariacki church in Gdansk, Poland (Photo: EUobserver.com)
The EU has no competence to legislate on allowing or not allowing abortion. However, in September 1991, the European Court of Justice decided in the case of SPUC v. Grogan that abortion could constitute a service within the meaning of Article 50 TEC - Article III-145 in the proposed Constitution. As a result, Ireland, a Member State with strict anti-abortion law, asked for a protocol to the Treaty of Maastricht to avoid the possibility of EU laws (the acquis) overriding national law. In December 2002, Malta obtained a similar provision during its membership negotiations. Poland is another Member State where abortion is outlawed. It has had an individual agreement (unilateral declaration) concerning abortion and morality annexed to its accession treaty.
The European Charter of fundamental rights includes the right to life (Art. 2). Both the rejected EU Constitution and the Lisbon Treaty will make the Charter legally binding. This will allow the EU Court in Luxembourg to judge on sensitive moral and ethical questions. Does the right to life start with birth, nine month earlier, or when? From which moment during pregnancy will EU law respect this right to life?
Notes
In July 2002, an EU Parliament resolution called for legal access to abortion in both Member States and candidate countries.
Links
Case SPUC v. Grogan - C-159/90 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/smart......mp;numdoc=61990J0159&lg=EN
Treaty of Maastricht http://eur-lex.europa.eu/en/tr......ies/dat/11992M/htm/11992M.html
The European Charter of fundamental rights http://ec.europa.eu/justice_home/unit/charte/index_en.html
