EU parliament backs call to enshrine abortion in EU rights charter

The European parliament has voted in favour of including access to abortion in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Rights.

European lawmakers backed on Thursday a call to include access to abortion in the EU’s Charter of Fundamental Right in a symbolic move after last month France became the first nation in the world to enshrine the right in its constitution.

The proposal was approved by 336 votes to 163 against, with support mainly coming from left-wing and centrist members, as reported by Le Monde.

During the vote in the European Parliament, hard-left French MEP, Manon Aubry, attacked the “reactionaries” on the right for voting against the measure.

“The right to abortion is not a question of opinion – it is a human right,” she told parliament. “The right to abortion does not kill. On the contrary, it saves lives.”

The vote, however, was largely symbolic. The resolution is non-binding, and a full-fledged right to abortion access would require the backing of all 27 member states to be included in the EU’s charter.

Abortion remains heavily restricted in some EU countries, including Poland and Malta.

According to Le Monde, Polish lawmakers opened on Thursday a debate on liberalising the country’s abortion laws, which were drastically tightened under the previous right-wing government, but splits in the ruling coalition made the outcome uncertain.