BRATISLAVA, June 22 /
Christian Newswire/ -- Informed consent before abortion has been adopted by the Slovak Parliament establishing a mandatory counseling requirement, a 3 days waiting period, and mandatory parental/guardian consent requirements for minors within the current Slovak abortion law.
International abortion groups' pressure, coordinated by the US based pro-abortion network "center for reproductive rights", called for rejection of the amendment claiming that it was "in conflict with women's rights to privacy, physical integrity and autonomy, confidentiality, health, and non-discrimination." A letter signed by 19 pro-abortion organizations/networks and 7 individuals was sent to all Slovak policy makers, quoting the World Health Organization: "Parental notification or authorization is considered a requirement that deters women from seeking timely care and may lead them to risk self-induced abortion or clandestine services", and also quoting the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).
A couple of days before the vote, more than 80 organizations and 53 individuals from all over the world, alerted by the
Familiokratos Coalition complimented all Slovak policy makers, stressing that: "the right to life is consistent with the legal rights afforded to mother and child by such binding international instruments as the Convention on the Rights of the Child, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, European Convention of Human Rights, and European Social Charter"; that "Informed consent laws have been internationally accepted as not placing an undue burden on a woman seeking to procure an abortion. Nor do reflection periods increase health risks to women seeking abortions.", "As many as 85 % of women surveyed feel that they were misinformed or denied relevant information during their pre-abortion counseling", and finally, that "While international abortion groups seek to put pressure on this Parliament to restrict a woman's choice, it is paramount that abortion is not a human right under European law and that individual States have the sole authority to determine the protections they wish to afford to life and to women's health".
The amendment has been adopted by 87 Members of Parliament voting for and only 7 against.
World Health Organization, Safe Abortion: Technical and Policy Guidance for Health Systems, Geneva, 2003, p.90
ECHR, Tysiąc v. Poland, no. 5410/03, § 116, ECHR 2007.
David Reardon, Aborted Women, Silent No More, (Westchester, IL: Crossway Books, 1987)pp 16-17, 335
ECHR, Vo v. France, application number 53924/00, judgment of 08/07/2004.
