Overseas Abortion More Important than
Overseas Education, According to EU

According to a member of the European Parliament, Irish taxes may soon contribute to a European Union initiative to provide abortions throughout the developing world, even though abortion is unconstitutional in Ireland. Dana Rosemary Scallon, Connacht/Ulster MEP, has stated that “the Irish government can no longer remain silent on this matter. The Irish people deserve to be informed and consulted, and have the right to decide in accordance with their conscience and their constitution, if they want their tax money to fund a compulsory EU programme which will impose abortion, without debate, on the poorest countries.”

Scallon is referring to the Sandbaek report, a European parliament document intended to be the blueprint for EU international aid over the next five years. The report directs that “the [European] community shall provide financial assistance and appropriate expertise with a view to promoting the recognition of reproductive and sexual rights…and universal access to a comprehensive range of safe and reliable reproductive and sexual health services.” In population control parlance, reproductive services include abortion.

The report envisions a dramatic increase in EU funding for reproductive services. EU spending for reproductive services would rise by at least 72 per cent, and perhaps as much as 300 per cent, even though total EU international aid during the same period will rise by only 1 or 2 per cent. In fact, to offset increased spending on reproductive services, the EU may be forced to eliminate funding for elementary education in the developing world. Marie Stopes International, an organization that runs abortion clinics throughout the developing world, has lobbied heavily for this increase in spending for reproductive services.

A vote on the Sandbaek report within the European Parliament has been postponed a number of times, as pro-life parliamentarians have attempted to add amendments to the document. One amendment sought to establish that abortion was not a reproductive service, while another sought assurance that EU money would not be used for abortions. Both amendments have been vigorously contested, thereby reinforcing the opinion of European pro-life organizations that the report is intended to promote and fund abortion.

Scallon views the report as an assault on the sovereignty of Ireland. It will establish an EU regulation, which is, according to Scallon, “the strongest EU law.” “An EU regulation is directly applicable and binding in all EU Member States without the need for any national implementing legislation or, in this case, even national debate,” Scallon said. Thus, Irish taxes could be used for reproductive services and “safe” abortions, regardless of Irish opinion on the matter and regardless of Ireland’s own laws respecting unborn life.

This is not the first time that Ireland’s membership within the EU has seemed to run counter to its constitution. During this year’s UN Child Summit, for example, the EU, including Ireland, fought for reproductive health services for adolescents, even after a Canadian delegate admitted that reproductive services included abortion. Ireland was unwilling to break EU consensus on the issue.


Source: C-FAM (Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute). November 15, 2002.
Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute
866 United Nations Plaza, Suite 427
New York, New York 10017
Phone: (212) 754-5948
Fax: (212) 754-9291
E-mail: c-fam@c-fam.org
Website: www.c-fam.org

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