Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2013-06-12-Speech-3-672-000"
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"en.20130612.65.3-672-000"2
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"Madam President, I would like to thank the High Representative and the rapporteurs. Can I first of all start by mentioning a word which upsets a lot of people. The word is ‘unborn’. I heard a colleague speak recently as if human sexual reproductive health and rights and religion were somehow opposing forces in our society.
The reality is that there are up to 200 million women missing from the world’s population because of gender-based abortion and infanticide. You cannot simply talk about rights in such bland circumstances. Those unborn did not have the right to be terminated simply because they were women. So could we all take off the blinkers and have a more informed discussion about this and could our human rights leaders take a little more interest in this particular issue? It is wrong to terminate in those circumstances and it is time we said so unambiguously.
Secondly, can I say in relation to religion generally that I find this House in particular one of the most intolerant places for people who hold religious beliefs. There are people whom I have supported and issues I have supported like gay partnership, votes for prisoners – I have introduced bills for that – but when I stand up and say something that comes from my religious conviction – as a lot of my views do – they are dismissed as if I were from some strange planet.
Religion and religious conviction are as important to some people as, say, hurling is as a sport in my country and it should not be dismissed. We need to show respect for each other, but that respect has to be mutual. It has to be shared. People should not be questioned about their religious convictions when they appear at committees in this House. Who does more for the poor, the suffering, the marginalised, people with HIV and AIDS, the unemployed and the homeless? I know who does it in my constituency, I know who does it in the Third World. So let us not be so dismissive of people who hold religious beliefs.
One last word on freedom of the press. Let us have a really free press, not a freedom of the press where a crook who is President can ring the owner of the press and tell him that he wants a story killed. This is an issue that we have to address as well, where owners of the press can kill journalists’ stories when those stories should legitimately be covered.
I welcomed the opportunity to participate in this debate."@en1
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