Meanwhile, another initiative to resist pressure from the EU on this issue was tabled by two Christian parties and passed.
The liberal party, Democrats 66 (D66), tabled the parliamentary initiative, which encouraged the government to align with “leading group of like-minded countries to enshrine the right to abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights”.
According to D66, that was the solution for “thousands of women worldwide die as a result of unsafe abortions”.
Despite the support of the Animal Rights, European Volt, SP (socialist) VVD (liberal) and GroenLinks-PvdA (social-democratic) parties, this first motion only obtained 68 of the 150 possible votes and did not pass.
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Reaction of conservative parties against abortion
Days later, another motion was submitted by the reformed SGP party (Staatkundig Gereformeerde), the Christian Union (CU ChristenUnie) and the Forum for Democracy (FvD, Forum voor Democratie) parties, and it passed with 77 votes in favour and 73 against.
It calls on the government to “actively oppose attempts within the European Union to include abortion as a human right in European treaties”.
“The Netherlands must actively oppose attempts within the EU to make abortion a human right”, wrote Chris Stoffer, head of the SGP party on social media, right after the voting. “This is a very important result in the last votes before the election recess”, he added.
Tweet This: The Netherlands must actively oppose attempts within the EU to make abortion a human right.
Other motions approved
The House of Representatives of the Netherlans has also passed a motion by SP, D66 and GL-PvdA, which asked the government to ensure that care for victims of sexual violence is included as part of the basic emergency assistance provided by the Netherlands, including “abortion care”, among other things.
A motion on prenatal screenings by the SGP was also passed, calling on the government to consider what actions could be taken to counter “the potentially stigmatising effect” of prenatal screenings.
Abortion debate around Europe
In 2024, France became the first European country to enshrine abortion in the constitution.
Some days ago, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced his intention to do the same in Spain.
Editor's note: This article was published by Evangelical Focus and is reprinted with permission.
