EU Commissioner backs abortion as it gives women ‘a right to own body’
EUROPEAN Commissioner Margrethe Vestager has spoken out in defence of abortion, saying it gives a woman the right to her own body – and can be essential for the well-being of the family unit.
Although she is not specifically commenting on the Irish abortion regime, the timing of Ms Vestager’s views will prove controversial among those campaigning to protect the rights of the unborn.
The Commissioner also stressed it is difficult to form an opinion about the approach of a country with a different tradition and cultural background to her own in Denmark.
In an exclusive interview with the Irish Independent,
Ms Vestager said: “It is never a thing that comes easy but it gives you a right to your own body as a woman, to which you are otherwise deprived.”
Ms Vestager said it was “very important people can make their own decision within the family, when [they] want to have children”.
The EU Competition Commissioner, who is being tipped as the next EU president, was speaking to this newspaper ahead of the referendum on the Eighth Amendment – which is due to be held later this year.
Ms Vestager said in her native Denmark people were “very respectful and careful” when it came to the topic of abortion.
Danish law allows for abortion on request up to 12 weeks in pregnancy. It is covered by the public health system.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said this week he was concerned the Oireachtas Committee on the Eighth Amendment’s proposal to make abortion on request legal in Ireland up to 12 weeks may be “a step too far” for a majority of voters. He also refused to comment on his own position towards the referendum.
But in Denmark, Ms Vestager said that citizens respected the law as providing personal autonomy for women.
Ms Vestager said that “every woman who has decided to have an abortion... it is something that travels with her”.
She said that only a tiny minority of women take having an abortion lightly.
“People take it very seriously and appreciate [having] the choice and to have the choice for themselves,” she said.
Access
Ms Vestager denied that allowing free abortion up to 12 weeks was viewed as destroying the social fabric or as anti-family in Denmark.
In fact, she said it was important for the “social fabric” that people were allowed to access an abortion “with caution and seriousness” and to decide when they wanted to have children.
“We think about it as a way to make sure that you are having children when you want to have children, and not when they come in a way when you haven’t chosen it yourself,” she said.
“We find that the social fabric is made by taking responsibility for the choices you make; not denying people the right to free abortion, but affording them it with the caution and the seriousness that people put into the decision.”
Ms Vestager said the family unit was at the core of Danish society: “That is the only thing that really matters: other people, and especially the ones you have a relationships with. And the most important relationship is the one you have with your children.”