According to an article that appeared in the Irish edition of the Sunday Times, Birgitta Ohlsson of the Swedish Liberal party, a member of her country’s coalition government, has launched a campaign for the right to have an abortion to be considered a human right in all EU member states.
Called www.makenoiseforfreechoice.eu it plans to obtain the 1 million signatures required for its demands to be considered by the European Commission under the terms of the “citizens’ initiative” proposed under the Lisbon Treaty.
The website says that countries like Ireland, Malta and Poland are denying women their human rights by banning abortion and that the women of Europe can “no longer be ignored”.
It says: "It is time for the EU to secure the right to free, safe and legal abortions and render it a human right."
Clearly, the organisers of the campaign don't feel at all put off by the so-called 'guarantees' offered to Ireland at last month's summit - which stressed that the Lisbon Treaty will in no way threaten Ireland's laws on abortion.
Which is extremely interesting given that British Lib Dem MEP Sarah Ludford is listed as one of the key supporters of the campaign. She is a strong proponent of the Lisbon Treaty - but presumably will not be joining her colleagues in telling Irish people they have nothing to fear as regards their abortion laws?
The seeds of doubt are certainly being sown. John O’Reilly of the Irish Pro-Life Campaign, is quoted saying Irish abortion laws were reinforced by the legal guarantees surrounding the Lisbon treaty, “unless the guarantees mean nothing at all”.
Ahem. We're saying nothing.
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