Controversial Estrela report rejected by European Parliament

The European Parliament today rejected the highly controversial Estrela Report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights.  Two alternative texts were proposed and the second one amendment 2 was adopted by 334 votes to 327 with 35 abstentions. The fact that amendment 2 was approved meant that the original report was therefore defeated.

This result is an important victory for common sense and a victory for democracy that shows the vital importance of standing together. The cooperation of like-minded groups led to the defeat of this radical agenda.  The will of the majority held sway over the voices of anti-life and family MEP’s and pressure groups, responsible for the writing of the report, and who refused to make any significant changes to it even when it was sent back to the FEMM committee by the Parliament.

The Estrela report and resolution would not have been binding but nevertheless would, if approved, have represented a significant statement by the Parliament for the future and it also included areas beyond the competence of the EU and which are reserved for Member States, such as parental rights, sexual education, human dignity and freedom of conscience. 
The report also contained a declaration of a human right to abortion

This is just one battle in a war on life and family and we have to be alert because those who seek to impose their values on us, never rest, we need to be vigilant, there will inevitably be a counter attack, initially using the media. We are aware of another equally bad draft report known as the ‘Lunacek Report’ which is already in the pipeline.

LINK to DRAFT REPORT PR\1006230EN.doc PE521.599v01-00

On the EU Roadmap against homophobia and discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation and gender identity (2013/2183(INI))

Dangerous Estrela report for new vote in EU Parliament on Tuesday December 10th

On Tuesday 10 December the European Parliament will meet in plenary to vote on a new version of the "Report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights" put forward by Edite Estrela, the radically pro-abortion MEP. We urge all pro-life and pro-family supporters to email their MEPs to encourage them to vote against this very dangerous report.

The report suggests that abortion is a human right, calls for compulsory sex education for all children in and outside of school, and attacks conscientious objection for healthcare professionals. It is believed that Vicky Claeys, president of the European section of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) has claimed publicly to having been a co-writer of the report.

When the original version of the report was debated in plenary on 22 October, MEPs rejected it and voted to send it back to the FEMM women’s committee. On 26 November the FEMM's women's committee again passed the report and has now sent a new version forward to the plenary for 10 December. The new version of the report is extremely dangerous and must be rejected in its entirety.

The contact details for MEP’s from every European Member State can be accessed on this link. Simply enter the name of the Member State to list the MEP’s and click on individual names to find contact details.

The Estrela report is very dangerous because it:

• says that abortion is a human rights concern, uses the myth of backstreet abortion to claim moral high ground yet no national or International law states abortion is a human right (section 33)

• gives free reign to abortionists, calls for the non-prosecution of abortion (section 36)

• presents liberal abortion laws, sex education, contraception as the ideal (section AK)

• says attention should be devoted to killing unborn children, claims sex education and contraception prevents unwanted pregnancies, contrary to the peer-reviewed evidence (section AE)

• calls for the rejection and overriding of all pro-life laws (section 7)

singles out and attacks traditionally pro-life countries for protecting unborn children (section U)

• wants the EU to skirt around the right of Member States to implement pro-life laws and policies, via EU strategies and policies about public health (section 13)

• wants new EU Member States to make access to abortion and contraception easier, considering prolife laws and policies as obstacles (section 17)

• wants to curtail countries from protecting its citizens, born and unborn (section 29)

• calls for abortion on demand on spurious “risk to health or life” grounds, discriminates against unborn children conceived in rape, makes no mention here of support for mothers who do not want to abort (section 66)

• again calls for the non-prosecution of abortion, dictates to EU Member States and countries wanting to join, making pro-abortion position a requisite for membership (section 37)

• attacks large families (section 26)

• attacks and wants to curtail conscientious objection to abortion, attacks faith based hospitals and staff (section 34)

• targets children and teens, calls for children, teens, young adults to act as sex education propagandists in the EU and even to candidate countries (section K and section 40)

• calls for compulsory anti-life sex education for primary school children onwards (section 41 and 45)

• wants to make sex education a human rights concern (section 42)

• dictates that the homosexual agenda must be promoted in schools (section 51)

• wants the EU to impose abortion as part of overseas development assistance (sections 76, 81, 85)

• anti-life definition of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHRs) purported as a human right, essential for highest level of health (sections G, 1, 4, 14, 25, 67)

ESTRELA REPORT: UPDATE

The controversial Estrela report, which was referred back to the Women’s Rights and Gender Equality Committee of the European Parliament (FEMM) has once again been adopted by that committee with only minor cosmetic changes and has been placed back on the plenary agenda for December 10.

This controversial report on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, promotes a right to abortion and also includes compulsory sex education for toddlers.

The Estrela Report was referred back to the FEMM committee following an intense debate about its controversial content, which includes not only the promotion of abortion and a call for restrictions on conscientious objection but also urges compulsory sexual education for children aged 0-4 onwards. (For example, children should be informed about “enjoyment and pleasure when touching one’s own body”, “early childhood masturbation”, etc.)

Debate in the FEMM Committee meeting was heated and opponents of the report complained about a possible breach of the Parliament‘s legal procedure because an outright ban that was placed on tabling new amendments or discussing the existing an alternative resolution which had been prepared.

Although Mrs. Angelika Niebler MEP (EPP) requested to postpone the vote on the Report until the European Parliament‘s Legal Service or Constitutional Affairs Committee (AFCO) could be asked for an official opinion on the legality of the amendment ban, the Report‘s proponents argued that there was no need to further delay the vote. This push for a vote received surprising support from shadow rapporteur Michèle Striffler, a member of the conservative European People's Party (EPP) Group in the European Parliament, who agreed with the text of the Report, along with other coordinators.

The proposal to wait for informed legal opinion on the amendment ban was rejected, and the Estrela Report was adopted with 19 MEPs voting in favor of it and 15 against.

Most of the proposed amendments were rejected, but some minor changes were adopted, the changes being only in detail but not in substance, as follows: 

• The paragraph calling on EU Member States “to ensure compulsory, age-appropriate and gender-sensitive sexuality and relationship education for all children and adolescents (both in and out of school)” (§15), was amended to exclude the phrase“both in and out of school”. The word “compulsory” however still remains.

• The paragraph that reads “sexuality education must be provided in a safe, taboo-free, interactive atmosphere between students and educators” (§44), was changed to exclude the words “taboo-free”, “interactive” and “between students and educators”.

• The paragraph which reads  “emphasises, therefore, that sexuality education must be part of a broader supportive approach to young people’s emotional development so as to enable them to form mutually respectful relationships with members of the opposite sex” (§54) was amended by the exclusion of the phrase, “with members of the opposite sex”.

These amendments do not improve the report in any way, they are simply cosmetic changes. The vast majority of the radical language and proposals of the Estrela Report remain in place.

The Report has now been put on the agenda for a plenary vote in Parliament on December 10th at 11:30 a.m.

Although it’s a non-binding report, adoption of the Estrela Report would express the official opinion of the European Parliament on the matter of abortion, sexual education and conscientious objection. In each of these areas, the Report adopts a radical position that is at odds with the views of the vast majority of European citizens.

We will return to this issue at the earliest opportunity, as it is imperative that a Community wide lobbying effort should be set in motion to reject this report in plenary on December 10^th.

Action Alert: Estrela Report

We reported on October 22nd that the controversial Estrela report to the European Parliament on “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights” (SRHR) was referred back to the Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM).

We can now report that this controversial report and is to be dealt with by the FEMM committee very swiftly. The report is scheduled to be discussed and voted on, in the Committee next Monday and Tuesday November 25^th and 26^th.

The report and resolution on Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights presented by Portugese MEP Edite Estrela, actually represents an assault on parental rights and would undermine the Sovereignty of member states, in that it attempted to make abortion a fundamental human right, remove conscientious objection and introduce pornographic sexuality education even for young children .

The Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Community, COMECE, condemned the resolution and pointed out that the EU had no competence in the matter.

The report although presented by Edite Estrella is reported to be the work of  radical NGO’s including the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) in Brussels. 

This was clearly stated by Ms Estrela herself as she thanked NGOs during discussion on the report on the evening prior to the plenary vote. The involvement of IPPF in the preparation of the report was confirmed within the FEMM Committee: IPPF Europe's representative publicly claimed having contributed to the draft report on the very same afternoon it was presented in the FEMM Committee.

The speed at which the report is coming back to the table is surprising given that there are many other reports awaiting attention. Not only has the FEMM Committee put this as the first item on its agenda for its next meeting on November 25^th, but the report and its resolution has also been placed on the draft agenda for the December plenary session

We recommend that readers should in the first instance contact the members of the Femm Committee before next Tuesday and to ask them the following:

• To promote transparency and the public parliamentary debate: the MEPs should be invited to explicitly express a request for amendments to be tabled in the Committee.

Explanation: As the agenda of the Committee stands today there is no room for amendments that could change the content of the report but the report would actually just be debated and then voted. According to the procedure of the European Parliament it is not necessary to make “cosmetic” changes when a report is referred back to its’ committee but the political contents should reflect the different political positions. 

• To vote the alternative resolution: 

This was tabled for the plenary session and therefore cannot be ignored. MEPs should be asked to ensure that the alternative resolution is voted in the Committee.

• Ask for a public vote in the Committee. 

The rules of the European Parliament allow for a nominal vote (roll call vote) in committee (art. 195-3 of the Rules of the European Parliament). A quarter of the voting members, i.e. in this case 9 of the 33 members must support such a request. All members of the Committee, both full members and substitutes can ask for a nominal vote. 

We will return to this issue next week to report on the outcome of the FEMM committee deliberations and with further recommendations.