European Parliament Members Form Working Group to Advance Pro-Life Perspective
by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
December 19, 2008
Brussels, Belgium (LifeNews.com) — Members of the European Parliament have formed a new Human Dignity working group to promote the pro-life perspective on abortion and bioethics issues. With the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the MEPs believe more cohesive efforts are needed to protect people from abortion and other anti-life practices.
In a new mission statement the group adopted, the Human Dignity Working Group says: “Human beings are made in the image and likeness of God, our creator. In acknowledging this, we allow the moral sense to testify that the human person has certain properties, and that these properties are intrinsic and indelible.
”“These properties have come to be known in the modern, secular state as ‘fundamental human rights’, and it is these rights the Working Group will seek to recognize in their fullest capacity by recognizing their source,” the statement adds.
MEP Gay Mitchell talked about the establishment of the parliamentary working group.
“By recalling that man’s rights are inalienable from his/her being, and not the product of legal charter, the Working Group will promote an important principle regarding human dignity,” Mitchell said.
Though abortion advocates suggests pro-life lawmakers are forcing their views on society, Mitchell says the desire to promote the pro-life agenda recognizes that the situation is currently in reverse in Europe.“I must say that this is not about me forcing my faith onto others. I was prompted to do this because I got fed up with others trying to impose their views on me,” Mitchell said.
“Their militancy certainly doesn’t reflect either my own principles –- or those of my constituents. I respect the views of others and will work with them in the interests of the Community, but I insist that they respect our views as well,” Mitchell said of abortion advocates.
MEP Nirj Deva , a former candidate to succeed Kofi Annan as secretary general of the United Nations, and a new leader of the working group, said it is needed “because we believe it is essential to the balance between the rights and responsibilities of the individual and the power of the state.”
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