ZAGREB, 24 June 2021 - Croatian MEP Predrag Matić said on Wednesday that it was a lie that his report on sexual and reproductive health, which will be put to a vote in the European Parliament on Thursday, promoted abortion.
"No one is advocating abortion, particularly not as a method of contraception," Matić said during the plenary meeting of the European Parliament.
"The number of abortions in countries where abortion is allowed is the same as in countries where it is banned. Only in these latter countries, it poses a risk to women's health as 23,000 women throughout the world die from it every year," he added.
Presenting his report, Matić said that abortion is a very difficult choice for every woman, but that in the end, every woman must have a choice.
"No one is denying doctors the right to refuse to provide a medical service for personal reasons, but at the same time the health institution must ensure a doctor who will provide the requested service," Matić said, adding that the resolution clearly says that health care falls within the competence of member states.
Matić, a member of the Croatian Social Democratic Party and the Socialists & Democrats group in the European Parliament, said he had received "angry and disgusting" criticisms and hundreds of hate emails over his report.
He said that by voting for this non-legislative resolution, men would show respect for women's rights and women would show self-respect, while all members of the European Parliament should show what kind of Europe they wanted.
Matić said that opponents of the resolution were ready to ignore the parts of it speaking of improving women's health only to focus on the issue of abortion using "an unbelievable amount of lies and manipulation."
"Tomorrow is a great day for Europe and the entire progressive world. Tomorrow we decide on positioning Europe as a community that chooses to live in the 21st or the 17th century. Don't let history remember us as the latter ones," Matić concluded.
The report was criticized by parties on the right side of the political spectrum for referring to abortion as a human right, for treating the issue of conscientious objection as a problem, and for sidestepping the powers of EU member states.
Croatian MEP Karlo Ressler (HDZ/EPP) said that the resolution uses confusing language equating conscientious objection with denial of medical care, while his colleague Tomislav Sokol said that Matić, by advocating sexual education in school based on gender ideology, was overstepping the competencies of the EU and telling the member states what they should teach in their own curricula.
"Matić drew up the report probably under the influence of foreign lobbies that promote abortion. This stems from the fact that in the report Matić gives an arbitrary definition of sexual and reproductive health that is not based on international law," Sokol said, demanding that the disputed parts of the report should be voted on separately.
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