SPUC supporters and regular readers of this blog will remember that we recently urged our supporters to contact their MEPs and ask them to vote against the motion in the European Parliament on abortion and HIV/AIDS. The motion was riddled with anti-life and anti-family content.Daniel Blackman, who researches international affairs for SPUC, has written a report on the outcome of the vote on the motion.
EU passes motion promoting abortion under the banner of HIV/AIDS prevention, by Daniel Blackman
On 1 December 2011 MEPs debated and voted on the controversial motion entitled “on the EU response to HIV/AIDS in the EU and neighbouring countries.” The motion was put forward by Françoise Grossetête on behalf of the PPE Group; Nessa Childers on behalf of the S&D Group; Antonyia Parvanova on behalf of the ALDE Group; Satu Hassi on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group; Marina Yannakoudakis on behalf of the ECR Group; Marisa Matias on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group; and Oreste Rossi on behalf of the EFD Group. The date selected for the final vote was strategic, 1 December being world AIDS day.
The original motion was itself harmful for people already living with HIV/AIDS, and for those whose lifestyles put them in the high risk group for contracting HIV. Amongst other things, the motion strongly favoured the “condom first” approach of the UN, EU, and WHO. Some of the worst sections included:
AA. whereas it is crucial to advocate strengthening and expanding policy and programming in the area of links between sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) and HIV so that HIV/AIDS prevention programmes are integrated into SRHR programmes and HIV/AIDS prevention becomes an integral part of sexual and reproductive health care.It is clear that the scientific evidence, the epidemiological studies and the voices of experts like Dr. Edward C. Green and Professor David Paton on the ineffectiveness of current condom-first anti-life approaches, really don’t matter in the face of political expediency and aggressive anti-life ideology. The motion became much worse following the submission and acceptance of amendments to the motion. These motions were put forward by many of the original proposers of the motion listed above, and other MEPs like Sophia in't Veld, Michael Cashman, and Corinne Lepage, well-known for their aggressive promotion of contraception, abortion, and destructive behaviours and lifestyles.
14. Calls upon the Member States to ensure that all National AIDS programs and strategies develop strong linkages between sexual and reproductive health and HIV services.
15. Notes that prevention measures should explicitly include adequate information and sex education, access to protection means, such as male and female condoms, and strengthening the rights and autonomy of women in sexual relationships.
22. Calls on the Commission and Council to ensure access to quality comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services, information, and supplies. This should consist of, among others, confidential and voluntary counselling, testing and treatment for HIV and all sexually transmitted infections; prevention of unintended pregnancies; equitable and affordable access to contraceptives, including access to emergency contraception; safe and legal abortion, including post-abortion care; care and treatment to prevent vertical transmission of HIV, including of partners and children.
Prolife MEPs and NGOs worked together, calling for split and separate votes on some of the most controversial sections, hoping that they would be exposed and voted out of the motion. However, even without the most anti-life amendments, the document as a whole would have remained unacceptable. SPUC encouraged constituents to contact their MEPs about the most dangerous sections and the harmful content likely to remain, which meant that a clear vote against the motion as a whole was required. People living with HIV/AIDS do need particular medical and pastoral support, but this motion fails these people and acts as a Trojan horse for the agendas of pro-abortion MEPs and lobby groups.
On the day, all of the anti-life pro-abortion sections received overwhelming support from MEPs, including the vast majority of the PPE (Christian Democrat) MEPs. Every vote on anti-life sections was lost by a wide margin. Section 22, which includes an explicit promotion of abortion, received 6 separate roll-call votes. Every single one was sadly lost. The fifth roll-call vote dealt specifically with the reference to abortion. Only 206 MEPs voted against abortion i.e. they used their vote to defend unborn babies. They were:
ALDE: Aylward, Gallagher, Harkin, Takkula
ECR: Bielan, Cymański, Czarnecki, Deva, Helmer, Kamiński, Karim, Kirkhope, Kowal, Kurski, Legutko, McClarkin, Migalski, Piotrowski, Poręba, Szymański, Tannock, Wojciechowski, Włosowicz, Ziobro
EFD: Belder, Borghezio, Fontana, Morganti, Rossi, Scottà, Speroni, Terho, Tzavela, Vanhecke
NI: Claeys, Dodds, Gollnisch, Hartong, Kovács, Le Pen Marine, Madlener, Mölzer, Obermayr, Stassen, Stoyanov Dimitar, Zijlstra
PPE: Abad, Allam, Andrikienė, Angelilli, Antonescu, Antoniozzi, Arias Echeverría, Ayuso, Baldassarre, Balz, Bartolozzi, Bastos, Bauer, Becker, Belet, Berlato, Bodu, Bonsignore, Borys, Brok, Busuttil, Böge, Băsescu, Březina, Cancian, Carvalho, Casa, Casini, Caspary, Coelho, Comi, Daul, De Mita, Delvaux, Deutsch, Deß, Dorfmann, Díaz de Mera García Consuegra, Estaràs Ferragut, Feio, Ferber, Fernandes, Fidanza, Fraga Estévez, Gahler, García-Margallo y Marfil, Gardini, Gauzès, Glattfelder, Grzyb, Gyürk, Gál, Gáll-Pelcz, Handzlik, Hankiss, Herranz García, Hibner, Higgins, Hohlmeier, Iacolino, Jahr, Jazłowiecka, Jeggle, Jędrzejewska, Kalinowski, Karas, Kasoulides, Kastler, Kelam, Kelly, Klaß, Koch, Kozłowski, Kuhn, Köstinger, La Via, Landsbergis, Langen, Lehne, Liese, Lisek, Lope Fontagné, Mann, Matera, Mato Adrover, Matula, Mauro, Mayer, Mayor Oreja, McGuinness, Melo, Mikolášik, Millán Mon, Mitchell, Morkūnaitė-Mikulėnienė, Mészáros, Neynsky, Niculescu, Niebler, Olbrycht, Oomen-Ruijten, Pack, Pallone, Papastamkos, Patrão Neves, Pieper, Pirker, Posselt, Protasiewicz, Proust, Pöttering, Quisthoudt-Rowohl, Rangel, Reul, Rivellini, Roithová, Rübig, Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Saryusz-Wolski, Saudargas, Schnellhardt, Schnieber-Jastram, Schwab, Scurria, Seeber, Siekierski, Silvestris, Sommer, Sonik, Stolojan, Stoyanov Emil, Surján, Szájer, Sógor, Teixeira, Thun und Hohenstein, Thyssen, Tőkés, Ulmer, Ungureanu, Vaidere, Verheyen, Vidal-Quadras, Weber Manfred, Weisgerber, Wieland, Winkler Hermann, Wortmann-Kool, Zalewski, Zanicchi, Zeller, Zwiefka, de Grandes Pascual, de Lange, del Castillo Vera, van de Camp, Áder, Őry, Šťastný
S&D: Prodi
Section 22 makes the link between pregnant mothers with HIV/AIDS, their babies, and the “solution” to mother-child HIV transmission by killing the child before he or she is born. The majority of MEPs are clearly not content with killing the disabled; they are now seeking out sick babies.
In the final vote, 454 MEPs voted in favour of this barbaric resolution, a small but stalwart 86 voted against it, and 44 abstained. The MEPs who voted against were:
ALDE: Aylward, Gallagher
ECR: Bielan, Cymański, Czarnecki, Deva, Helmer, Kamiński, Kowal, Kurski, Legutko, Migalski, Piotrowski, Poręba, Szymański, Tomaševski, Wojciechowski, Ziobro
EFD: Agnew, Andreasen, Belder, Bufton, Clark, Fontana, Speroni
GUE/NGL: Angourakis, Toussas
NI: Claeys, Gollnisch, Hartong, Kovács, Madlener, Mölzer, Obermayr, Zijlstra
PPE: Allam, Antoniozzi, Arias Echeverría, Ayuso, Bartolozzi, Borys, Brok, Busuttil, Březina, Cancian, Casa, Casini, Deß, Díaz de Mera García Consuegra, Ferber, Fidanza, Fraga Estévez, Gardini, Grzyb, Handzlik, Hibner, Kalinowski, Kastler, Kelam, Kelly, Klaß, Koch, Kozłowski, Mato Adrover, Mauro, Mayor Oreja, Millán Mon, Olbrycht, Pieper, Posselt, Protasiewicz, Pöttering, Roithová, Salafranca Sánchez-Neyra, Saryusz-Wolski, Saudargas, Sommer, Sonik, Surján, Vidal-Quadras, Zalewski, Zeller, Zwiefka, de Grandes Pascual, del Castillo Vera, Šťastný
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