“Abortion can never be a fundamental right. The right to life is the fundamental pillar of all other human rights, especially the right to life of the most vulnerable, fragile ad defenceless, like the unborn child in the womb of the mother, the migrant, the old, the person with disabilities and the sick”. This is what the Bishops of the Presidency of the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE) reiterated in a statement released today, on the eve of the vote on the “Resolution on the Inclusion of the right to abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights” (2024/2655 RSP), scheduled for Thursday, 11 April. “The promotion of women and their rights – the Bishops argue – is not related to the promotion of abortion. We work for a Europe where women can live their maternity freely and as a gift for them and for society and where being a mother is in no way a limitation for personal, social and professional life. Promoting and facilitating abortion goes in the opposite direction to the real promotion of women and their rights”. In the Statement issued today and addressed to Members of the European Parliament and European citizens, the Bishops cite the Declaration “Dignitas Infinita” on Human Dignity released by the Dicastery for the Doctrine of the Faith yesterday, and then look at all EU Member States. “The European Union – they said – must respect the different cultures and traditions in the Member States and their national competences. The European Union cannot impose on others, inside and outside its borders, ideological positions on the human person, sexuality and gender, marriage and family, etc.”. According to the European Catholic Bishops, “the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU cannot include rights that are not recognized by all and are divisive. There is no recognized right to abortion in European or International Law, and the way this issue is treated in the Constitutions and Laws of Member States varies considerably”.

COMECE therefore invites to consider the Preamble of the Charter, which states that the Charter must respect “the diversity of cultures and traditions of the peoples of Europe” as well as “the constitutional traditions and international obligations common to the Member States”. The Statement is signed by Mgr Mariano Crociata, Bishop of Latina (Italy) and President of COMECE, and by Vice-Presidents Mgr Antoine Hérouard, Archbishop of Dijon (France), Mgr Nuno Brás da Silva Martins, Bishop of Funchal (Portugal), Mgr Czeslaw Kozon, Bishop of Copenhagen (Scandinavia), and Mgr Rimantas Norvila, Bishop of Vilkaviškis (Lithuania).