On Thursday, a Catholic leader chastised the European Parliament for supporting a motion condemning the leaked US Supreme Court draft judgment on abortion.
The vote revealed “a certain tendency in the European Parliament and European institutions that is not favorable to life,” according to Father Manuel Barrios Prieto, secretary general of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE).
On June 9, members of the European Parliament, the EU’s legislative body, voted 364 in favor, 154 against, and 37 abstentions in Strasbourg, France, to pass the resolution “Global challenges to abortion rights: the possible overturning of abortion rights in the U.S. by the Supreme Court.”
The European Parliament “is deeply concerned about the potential consequences for women’s rights worldwide” if the US Supreme Court overturns Roe v Wade, according to the 32-point resolution.
It also expresses concern that overturning the 1973 decision that legalized abortion throughout the United States will have “a chilling effect on prioritizing and funding” abortion around the world.
The vote in support of the motion was preceded by a “acrimonious debate” on June 8, according to Politico, the news organization that leaked the draft opinion in May.
According to the report, German member Terry Reintke disregarded European Parliament regulations by speaking while wearing a pro-abortion green scarf. Despite the parliament’s president, Roberta Metsola, asking her to remove it, she refused to remove ot.
Although the resolution was not legally enforceable, Father Prieto said it was worrisome since it stated that “to defend the health of the woman, one has to guarantee the ‘right’ to abortion.”
“This is something that is totally contrary to the position of the Church, not only of the Church, but every person who sees in the embryo a new life, different from the life of the mother, that has to be protected,” he stated.
On the eve of the European Parliament discussion, the Spanish priest spoke out, calling the proposal “an unacceptable interference in the democratic jurisdictional decisions of a sovereign state, a country that is also not a member state of the EU.”
In 2021, the European Parliament approved a report that defined abortion as “essential healthcare” and sought to redefine conscientious objection as a “denial of medical care.”
Catholic organizations and Vatican “foreign minister” Archbishop Paul Gallagher condemned the vote.