Europeans Chip Away at Abortion Rights, U.S.-Style

Europeans Chip Away at Abortion Rights, U.S.-Style


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More Funding and Clout

Compared to 10 years ago, "pro-life" advocates, as they prefer to be called, have more funding, are more organized, are subtler in their messaging and are rising in the ranks of organized politics with the polarizing effect on parties that has been evident in the United States for decades.

From the center to the left, most of the mainstream political parties in Europe, from liberal to social democrats to green, strongly support abortion rights while those who are anti-abortion are to the right. "Some of the anti-abortion politicians have been able to wiggle their way into positions of influence within their political parties," said Datta, "so that they can have an anti-choice position which they hope to apply to the whole political party; without that the party has to take an anti-choice position."

In his bid to regain the presidency, for instance, former French president Nicolas Sarkozy recently tapped Madeleine Bazin de Jessey, a spokesperson of the association Sens Commun, or "Common Wisdom," as national secretary of his party, the UMP. De Jessey's group advocates against abortion and other issues such as same-sex marriage. Sens Commun belongs to the socially conservative collective La Manif pour Tous, which has strongly opposed same-sex marriage. La Manif pour Tous didn't give its official position on abortion when contacted by Women's eNews.

While no longer relying so heavily on religious arguments, which can work against the movement's goals, today's anti-abortion activists in Europe are still "religiously oriented" and "Christians in inspiration," said Datta. This subtler profile gives the movement a more popular reach.

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http://womensenews.org/story/abortion/141220/europeans-chip-away-at-abortion-rights-us-style