On January 17, 2008 Jolanta Samuolyte, HRMI Research Director, at the press conference in Parliament took stand on the Draft Act on the Protection of Life in the Prenatal Phase.
Jolanta Samuolyte informed about the international standards and practice on issues related to abortion, including jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, and overviewed abortion legislation in the various countries in Europe and elsewhere.
J. Samuolyte emphasized that proposed Act is similar to the abortion act in Poland albeit even more strict. Therefore. she suggested to thoroughly consider Polish experiences, among them increasing number of illegal abortions causing serious injuries and/or deaths and widesprerad “abortion tourism”.
J. Samuolyte believes that some of the arguments put forward by the proponents of the draft Act are doubtful. For instance, they maintain that the draft Act reflects public expectations, however no corroborative evidence such as results of public opinion polls or other sociological research is being provided. On the other hand, the explanatory note indicates that the draft Act reflects the opinion of the Catholic Church and teachings of the Pope John Paul II. This is, in the opinion of Ms. Samuolyte, represents the realilty. She reminded that according to Constitution there is State religion in Lithuania.
J. Samulyte emphasized that in order to reduce the number of abortions the focus should be on the causes of the unwanted phenomena and not on the consequences. Therefore, the Sate should concentrate its resources on sexual education and social support for the risk families.
HRMI recommendations on the Draft Act on the Protection of Life in the Prenatal Phase see here (in Lithuanian).
© 2012 Human Rights Monitoring Institute