Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-07-02-Speech-2-325"
| Predicate | Value (sorted: default) |
|---|---|
| rdf:type | |
| dcterms:Date | |
| dcterms:Is Part Of | |
| dcterms:Language | |
| lpv:document identification number |
"en.20020702.14.2-325"2
|
| lpv:hasSubsequent | |
| lpv:speaker | |
| lpv:spokenAs | |
| lpv:translated text |
"Mr President, I think that Mrs Van Lancker deserves our warmest congratulations and praise for taking the initiative on this important report, which has opened up a dialogue and highlighted a problem which goes right to the heart of the rights and fundamental freedoms of half the world's population. Despite improvements over recent years in the sexual and reproductive health of women, the indicators still show high abortion rates, especially among teenagers, low rates of contraceptive use and an increase in sexually transmitted diseases.
However, worst of all is the return in certain areas of the Union to anachronistic and obscurantist perceptions of sexual rights, contraception, equality of the sexes and women's right to self-determination. The fact that conservative and religious circles have taken action and flooded us with papers over recent days in a bid to overturn the vote in favour of this report makes that clear.
On the pretext of protecting life, they basically propose criminalising abortion and incriminating women and even prosecuting them under Portuguese standards. They are our familiar adversaries in the battle for equality of the sexes and women's rights and we know that when they talk about morals they usually display the double moral standard of one sauce for the goose and one for the gander.
Obviously absolutely no one advocates abortion as a contraceptive method; however, it is often a necessity and is generally carried out under the pressure of adverse social, economic, psychological or cultural conditions. Does anyone dispute the fact that many pregnancies are the result of some sort of violence against women? But apart from women's health and rights, should we not be ensuring that children are born into an environment in which they are welcome, so as to safeguard their proper mental, physical and spiritual development? It is worth pointing out that statistics show that the number of abortions is very low wherever there is a high level of free reproductive health and contraception services, in countries in which pregnant women facing difficulties, such as unmarried mothers, are given material support and where liberal legislation on the termination of pregnancy is combined with serious and effective sex education and information, especially for young people.
In conclusion, I think that the European Union and the Council, and the candidate countries, should step up their efforts and should give priority to and formulate an integrated European policy on reproductive health, with the emphasis on prevention, contraception and sex education and information for young people. The principle of subsidiarity must not under any circumstances be used as an excuse to prevent the European Parliament from taking a stance on such an important issue."@en1
|
Named graphs describing this resource:
The resource appears as object in 2 triples