Council of Europe official demands legalized abortion: no "prenatal right to life"

lifesitenews.com

Malta must legalize abortion, the Human Rights Commissioner of the Council of Europe insisted, because it’s a matter of “human rights” and “equality.”

The Council of Europe’s Nils Muižnieks wrote this in a Times of Malta opinion piece published Monday.

“From a thorough analysis of human rights standards and jurisprudence applicable to Council of Europe Member States, it is clear to me that women’s human rights cannot be protected without ensuring their effective access to safe and legal abortion care,” he wrote.

The tiny Catholic country of Malta prohibits aborting any babies. However, it allows contraceptives, including some that can act as abortifacients.

Standards found in the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Social Charter “require that States’ legislation and practice guarantee access to safe and legal abortion care,” wrote Muižnieks. He cited rulings from the European Committee of Social Rights and the European Court of Human Rights, respectively, saying that Italy and Poland don’t have liberal enough abortion laws.

“I am aware that some argue in favour of restrictions on access to abortion on the basis of a purported ‘prenatal right to life,’” he acknowledged. “However, after a thorough analysis of how the right to life is interpreted within core treaties, it is clear to me that this right does not apply prior to birth and that international human rights law and mechanisms do not recognise a prenatal right to life.”

“Safe” legalized abortion “also forms an integral part of the right to health,” claimed Muižnieks.