European Parliament Resolution on the U.S. Supreme Court's Recent Abortion Ruling

The European body observes, with spite and restrained rage, that the Supreme Court's decision puts an “end to the federal constitutional right to abortion,” which is legally inaccurate.  As there has never been such a constitutional right, this “right” would have had to have been enshrined in the American constitution, which is not the case, as the Supreme Court pointed out.

The resolution goes on to note that “eight states have already banned abortion; twenty-six states might eventually pass laws that almost completely ban abortion; thirteen states have passed so-called “trigger” laws, which came into effect immediately after the Roe v. Wade judgment was overturned” and expands on the reactions to this decision observed in the United States.

This is followed by a verse on the consequences for vulnerable people, and the denial of their reproductive and sexual rights. It is difficult to understand how this judgment denies the rights to engender – which is what the term reproductive means – by preventing the conceived child from being put to death?

The decision goes on to lay out the possible complications of pregnancy and childbirth, the world's leading cause of death for adolescent girls aged 15 to 19, as if American hospitals were to rank among the last on the planet for competence and efficiency!

The text goes on to worry about what is happening even in Europe, for example in Poland, Malta, Slovakia, and Hungary, which limit access to abortion in various ways.

From that observation, the resolution moves on to issue condemnations against the United States, but also against certain Member States of the European Union – those mentioned above.

And then comes the most important point: the text “proposes to introduce the right to abortion in the [European] charter; considers that a proposal should be submitted to the Council aimed at amending the Charter of Fundamental Rights as follows: Article 7a (new) “Everyone has the right to benefit from a safe and legal abortion.”

Finally, the resolution asks “the Union and its Member States to legally recognize abortion and to defend respect for the right to a safe and legal abortion and to other sexual and reproductive rights.”

And finally, the icing on the cake, the text “recommends sending a delegation to the United States as soon as possible to assess the impact of the Supreme Court's decision and to support NGOs defending women's rights and the country's pro-choice movements.”

It is no longer enough for the European Parliament to want to regulate the internal politics of the Member States, even in defiance of their constitution, but it also wants to be the policeman of what is happening in the United States and of the decisions of its Supreme Court.