The facts about the CoE resolution

In the article Abortion Through The Back Door (August 8), Louis Cilia made reference to the resolution to make abortion an "unconditional right" which was adopted by the Council of Europe Assembly on April 16, 2008. "This resolution," he said, "was passed with 102 votes in favour, 69 against and 14 abstentions. The resolution is not legally binding on member states but it adds to the pressure on Europe to move towards legalising abortion unconditionally... Many are of the thought that the resounding nature of the vote in the CoE Assembly could influence the European Court of Justice if, and when, the issue is eventually referred to it..."

The nature of the CoE vote was not so "resounding". Out of a total of 609 members of the Parliamentary Assembly (PA) of the Council of Europe only 185, that is about 30 per cent, voted on the resolution, and only 102 members voted in favour of it. This means that only a sixth of all the members of the PA voted in favour of the resolution.

In this scenario, could it really be said that the CoE Assembly had declared abortion as an unconditional right? I don't think so. The CoE parliamentary procedures may allow such a low voting figure to appear as a "majority" in favour of abortion as an "unconditional right" but many Europeans surely expect the European Court of Justice to know much better how to interpret such a very small "majority".

Mr Cilia suspects that eventually the European Commission will accept "the principle of abortion as a human right" and could even tie it to article 14 of the European Convention of Human Rights which prohibits acts of discrimination. If the EU Commission is seen to be precipitating towards this position it will have to be reminded, in a very affirmative way, that the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in paragraph 9 of its preamble specifically makes reference to the declaration on the Rights of the Child which proclaims that "the child by reason of his physical and mental immaturity needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth". It is incumbent on the EU Commission to protect the child "before as well as after birth". Not to do so would be to discriminate against the unborn child and go against the UN Convention of Human Rights.

It is now public knowledge that the Irish will vote in a second referendum on the Lisbon Treaty on October 2 after the EU gave the Irish people guarantees, as those given to Malta, that there will be no interference from Brussels on Ireland on the matter of abortion.

In this scenario, Swedish MP Brigitta Ohlsson's initiative to impose abortion on Ireland, Malta and Poland through the EU Commission appears to be so reckless. In the end she may succeed in shooting down the Lisbon Treaty the second time... again the Irish way. She may succeed also in expanding a movement of millions of people throughout the EU which has again shown, in the last EU elections two months ago, that the EU means nothing to so many Europeans or that it is pressing too hard on their collars. Ms Ohlsson seems to have vowed to see the EU crumbling down.