Tvärpolitiskt brev till Ungern

To honorable members of the Hungarian parliament. We, the all party group on sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Swedish parliament, representing seven of the Parliamentary parties from left to right are writing to you, Hungarian Members of Parliament. We are worried about some of the content in the draft Hungarian constitution that is about to be adopted. We believe that a 21st century European constitution needs to be secular and based on principles of human rights, equality and non-discrimination, and that several of the provisions in the draft Hungarian constitution falls short of this basic demand as well as Hungary’s obligations under international human rights law and as a member of the European Union. Our main concern in the draft constitution is the article stating that the life of a fetus will be protected from conception (Article II). We believe that a provision of this kind interferes with the basic human rights of women. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that no other European Union or Council of Europe member state has a constitutional provision recognizing the right to life of the fetus from conception. Evidently, we agree that the right to life is one of the most fundamental human rights, however Hungary’s constitutional court, as well as other courts throughout Europe have confirmed that the granting of protection of the right to life from prenatally, or from conception, risk violating women’s health and human rights. A constitutional protection of the right to life of the fetus would threaten women’s access to safe abortion services. It could potentially pose other threats to women’s right to life and health, e.g. if a doctor would refuse to give life saving treatment to a pregnant woman because it could potentially damage the fetus. It could result in obstacles to women’s access to emergency obstetric care and other reproductive health services. Yours sincerely Swedish all party group on sexual and reproductive health and rights. Stockholm 14 April 2011/ Har idag, to den 14 April även sänt ett brev i linje med ovan från mig och kollgeger i Europarådet till Premiärminister Orban. Viktigt att bidra från olika delar om omvärlden och i olika delfrågor. Se också gärna min Skriftliga fråga till Sveriges regering samt svaret på riksdagens hemsida. Men jag befarar att vi får ha Ungern under lupp länge.