Labour MEP Alfred Sant has expressed his support for the principles upheld in the Matić report on the situation of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the EU, in the frame of women’s health, and stated that an open debate on abortion is needed.
He added that projecting people who are in favour of abortion as heartless or amoral makes no sense and is hypocritical.
In an intervention to the European Parliament plenary session, Alfred Sant said that the inalienable rights of all women to bodily integrity and autonomous decision-making should be universally recognised.
“From such a point of departure, the complex dilemmas that abortion issues raise should be resolved by communities following an open and tolerant debate.
The debate should respect prevalent cultural and behavioural norms but not let them override inalienable rights. It should be carried out on a national basis. The EU should have little to no say in such matters which is why I abstained on the final vote”.
“Malta implemented the most radical changes in favour of LGTBQ rights without any EU pressures. So let it be with abortion”, Alfred Sant told the European Parliament.
Meanwhile, during his intervention, Alfred Sant welcomed other elements in the text of the resolution, such as the call for a universal access to sexual and reproductive health and rights and for an enhanced use of emerging technologies for treatments and diagnostic methods.
Sant also welcomed the stress on the provision of a comprehensive range of health services, including physical and mental health as well as the call for Member States to make available toxin-free health products for women.
