On Friday, October 2, 2015, while the petition against neonatal infanticide was reaching 224,000 signatures, the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe rejected the petition by a majority, arguing that investigating and debating on this subject would be politically inappropriate. The Bureau followed the opinion of the Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights which considered the petition to be “too sensitive” politically and susceptible to “divide” the Assembly.
It is therefore too sensitive a topic to be discussed!
This sad Bureau decision reveals how late term abortion and neonatal infanticide are taboo in our society that prefers to close its eyes upon these inhuman practices rather than take the risk of challenging eugenics. These infanticides sometimes have as minimal cause as a cleft lip.
The petition – the largest in the history of the Council of Europe – has demonstrated that every year in Europe, children are born alive during late abortions and sometimes they are viable. They are often left to die without care, or killed after birth in violation of their fundamental rights guaranteed in theory to anyone at least “from birth”. The petition also presented scientific evidence that foetuses can feel pain by the second trimester.
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The ECLJ will continue to bring the rights of all newborns within the European and national institutions. Some Members of the Assembly have told us they want to reintroduce this subject in the Council of Europe in 2016, when political circumstances are more favourable.
This campaign is not finished. It has already helped expose these inhumane practices and raise awareness among a large number of people. Substantive work was initiated, allowing the gathering of information and many valuable testimonies of doctors and midwives.
We sincerely thank you for your support and assure you once again of our determination to fight this battle for the recognition of the rights of all newborns.
LifeNews.com Note: Grégor Puppinck is the director of the European Centre for Law and Justice, an international, Non-Governmental Organization dedicated to the promotion and protection of human rights in Europe and worldwide.
