FAFCE: letter to speaker of Parliament. Withdraw the draft law “On Sexual and Reproductive Health”

To withdraw the draft law “On Sexual and Reproductive Health”, which contains several proposals that would downgrade Albania’s ethical standards and undermine respect for human dignity: this is the request made in a letter addressed by the president of the Federation of Catholic Family Associations in Europe (FAFCE), Vincenzo Bassi, to the Speaker of the Albanian Parliament, Lindita Nikolla. The law would legalise national and international surrogacy, despite the fact that the EU has included the exploitation of surrogacy “in the list of human trafficking crimes”. Moreover, Mr Bassi continued, the aforementioned law encourages abortion “without addressing the root causes that lead a woman to refuse a life in her womb”. The reference is to Pope Francis and his address to the UN General Assembly in 2020 and to Mother Teresa. Other aspects of the draft law, the letter reads, risk “reducing Albania to a marketplace of human procreation, with no proposals for letting life flourish through the family – the real treasure of your beautiful country”. Mr Bassi calls on the country’s authorities to listen to “the numerous voices coming from civil society, legal and scientific experts, a diverse collection of religious denominations and victims of human trafficking”, and supports the Manifesto promoted by the Albanian Pro Family and Life Coalition. “We believe that Albania is Europe”, the president concluded, “but, today, the future of Albania is at stake”. And “the future of Europe is also at stake”.
Sarah Numico