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29. 4. 2008
Access to safe and legal abortion in Europeprojev na zasedání Rady Evropy
No one in this room denies the fact that the issue of abortion is a very sensitive and delicate one. I do not know any woman in my immediate surrounding who would undergo abortion without considering potential risks and would abuse taking such a decision. Abortion can only serve as a last resort from an insolvable situation and if a woman decides to undergo it, her decision has to be respected and she must be granted an access to save abortion with all medical care. Let me outline that this issue concerns the poor rather than the rich. |
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Let me make a brief excursion into history to show that even the attitude of Christian Church who nowadays represents the major opponent of abortion as such, wasn’t always so narrow-minded and determined. Thomas Aquin, the philosopher, states in his theory of delayed animation that the rational soul is present only at some later stage of gestation. For male fetus it was eighty days after conception, for female fetus only forty. He believed that the fetus has to be prepared for the time when rational soul comes to a body. Abortion was not banned at that time, it was tabooed, but tolerated. If someone would like to recall Hippocrates and his Oath, he should also know that this honorable doctor describes in his Corpus Hippocraticum a series of exercises for women that can help terminate an unwanted pregnancy. 20th century scientist George Deveraux, after examining three hundred and fifty primitive ancient societies, came to a conclusion, that abortion is a universal phenomenon and that it is impossible to find or create a social structure, where it would not exist. Returning back to our present-day society let me mention some current data: Every minute a women dies due to pregnancy or childbirth. About 2 hundred thousands women a year die in unprofessional abortions. About a hundred women every minute undergo an abortion, but only forty per cent of them are carried out in safe conditions. Seventy thousand women die every year as a consequence of an unprofessional abortion. It is a task of us politicians to ensure that women can exercise control over their own lives... and that seems to be the main eyesore for religious institutions. Women in 21st century are full-fledged citizens. If women choose to terminate their pregnancy, then it is necessary to ensure that they have an access to legal and save abortion. This is the main message of the report presented by Gisela Wurm and we all should support it because the aim is to protect women, mothers. The Socialist group supports this message. Autorka je poslankyní ČSSD, členkou sociálního výboru Parlamentu, stínovou ministryní pro ženu a rodinu |
