Croatian opposition tries to force Constitutional right to abortion through
Meeting of the Croatian Parliament. Photo AFP, Damir Sencar
Southern Europe
The Croatian opposition insist that the right to abortion must be included in the Constitution. If the government blocks that, the opposition will not support the proposed Constitutional changes.
The ruling parties want to change the Constitution so that it is harder to reverse decisions that are adopted by the Constitutional Court. The coalition argues that a parliamentary majority should not be enough to change that, especially concerning protecting human rights. Furthermore, the coalition wants a better definition for referendum-related matters in the Constituion, N1 reports.
However, they need the opposition parties to get a majority to pass the proposals. And these parties threaten to block them if the coalition party does not include abortion in the Constitution. “If our demand is not approved by the ruling coalition, then their demand will not receive our approval”, MP Arsen Bauk from the Social Democratic Party said on Tuesday.
Debate
Last year, a survey showed that 70 per cent of the Croatian population favours having free access to abortion. That was reported by Vecernji at the time. Already at the time, the media reported that the opposition parties wanted to enshrine the right to abortion in the Constitution.
The Constitutional right to abortion is in debate much broader in Europe. It started in January 2022, when the French President Macron pleaded for such a basic right in the European Parliament. The discussion was stimulated after the US Supreme Court decided to withdraw the almost 50-years-old Roe vs Wade, that made abortion a federal right in the United States.
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