The European citizen’s initiative “One of us”, calling to protect the “dignity” of the embryo, was presented today (April 10, 2014) in a Public Hearing in the European Parliament. This initiative, which has collected more than 1.700 thousand signatures, requests “the prohibition of EU financing of activities which involve the destruction of human embryos, especially in the areas of research, development cooperation and public health.” It calls on the European Union to prohibit EU from “directly or indirectly” funding abortion services in developing countries by banning funding to organisations that “encourage or promote abortion”. The European Women’s Lobby is deeply concerned about this new attempt to undermine women’s rights and especially women’s sexual and reproductive rights and advance the anti-choice agenda. Furthermore, the consequences that this initiative could have on the lives and health of millions of women around the world are unacceptable.
Sophie in ’t Veld MEP (Netherlands) and Petra Bayr MP (Austria) have written an opinion article on the issue.
