[Press release of the French Coordination for the European Women’s Lobby and the League for International Law for Women, 8 January 2013] Under pressure from the most reactionary forces opposing the right of women to dispose of their own bodies, two major setbacks have taken place in Europe:
- The Spanish government’s approval of a law proposing to suppress freedom of abortion in a country heretofore considered exemplary in its struggle for equality and against violence done to women;
- The European Parliament’s rejection of a resolution on “health and sexual and reproductive rights”, while in 2002 that same body approved a similar resolution recommending the decriminalisation of abortion in the EU.
The principle of subsidiarity must not be applied when it is concerns respecting the women’s right to autonomy and therefore to their dignity, a primary value of European citizenship.
We demand:
- For all European women free and gratuitous access to abortion;
- That sexual and reproductive rights, including the right to abortion, be recognised as fundamental rights, whereas they are totally absent from the Charter of EU Fundamental Rights incorporated in the Lisbon Treaty.
In order to support Spanish women, let us mobilize in front of all Spanish embassies and consulates in Europe.
Coordination française pour le Lobby européen des femmes
Ligue du Droit International des Femmes
Contact Annie Sugier: 336 38 39 42 92
