ECPM calls on MEP’s to vote for amendments on an important EP report on Gendercide

On 8 October, the European Parliament will vote on the important report: "Gendercide: the missing women" of the Committee on Women's Rights and Gender Equality" by rapporteur: Antigoni Papadopoulou. Gendercide is a global issue of concern everywhere pregnant women, on purpose or under pressure, decide not to give birth to girl foetuses.

 Read here a study of the European Parliament on "Gendercide: Missing Women"

Although the Papadopoulou report has many positive aspects, five important amendments were tabled by Anna Záborská, Christa Klaß, Teresa Jiménez-Becerril Barrio, Gay Mitchell, José Ignacio Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Peter van Dalen and 82 other MEP’s. The five amendments give a clearer stance on the ‘human right to conscientious objection’ and one of the amendments explicitly recalls the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, whereby every child, regardless of sex, has the right to appropriate legal protection before as well as after birth.’’

The five amendments are a much needed addition to the Papadopoulou report and therefore ECPM calls on all MEP’s to support these amendments

Amendments:

1: – having regard to European Court of Justice judgment C-34/10 confirming that any human ovum after fertilisation constitutes a human embryo, and that a human embryo constitutes a precise stage in the development of the human body,

2. Pa. Recalls the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, whereby every child, regardless of sex, has the right to appropriate legal protection before as well as after birth, and to survival and development, and reaffirms that girl children have equal status under the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, as adopted by UN General Assembly Resolution 44/25 of 20 November 1989; 

3. Qa. whereas there is no human right to abortion and sex selection under international law, either by way of treaty obligation or under customary international law, and whereas no international legally binding UN treaty can accurately be cited as establishing or recognising a right to abortion or sex selection; 

4. 40a. Upholds the human right to conscientious objection as outlined in Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 10 of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and highlights the fact that no person, hospital or institution may be coerced, held liable or discriminated against in any manner because of a refusal to perform, accommodate, assist or submit to practices of lethal prenatal sex selection, the performance of a human miscarriage or any act which could cause the death of a human foetus or embryo because of its sex; affirms the right of conscientious objection, together with the responsibility of the state to ensure that patients are able to access lawful medical care in a timely manner, in particular in cases of emergency prenatal and maternal healthcare; 

5. 40b. Asserts that, when implementing the specific clauses on the prohibition on coercion or compulsion in sexual and reproductive health matters agreed on at the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development, as well as the legally binding international human rights instruments, the acquis communautaire and the Union’s policy competencies in those matters, Union assistance should not be provided to any authority, organisation or programme which promotes, supports or participates in the management of any action which involves such human rights abuses as coercive abortion, forced sterilisation of women or men, or determination of foetal sex resulting in prenatal sex selection or infanticide;