Volt Europa’s stance on the current situation of abortion rights
Banning abortions is at its core sexist and antisocial and goes against all values we as Volt hold dear.
Recent events in the U.S., but also in Europe, have shown that women and people with a uterus are under attack by religious zealots. The United Nations classify access to abortion as a human right. Secularism and the separation between church and state is one of the principal pillars of the European Union. Volt is alarmed by the rising influence of conservative and radical Christianity.
The right to religious freedom, guaranteed in both, the EU and the United States, also means not letting a religion rule over your body. Thereby legislation that prohibits or restricts the right to abort a pregnancy goes against one of our most precious rights: religious freedom.
By overturning the Roe vs. Wade ruling from 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court and other states denying the right to abort a pregnancy, reduce women and their place in society to human incubators. All the trauma, hardship and the impact on physical and mental health that result from an unwanted pregnancy or medical pregnancy complications are forced upon the pregnant, their families and friends.
The issue of whether abortions are illegal or not is incredibly important for what we want our societies to look like. Because you can’t ban abortions, you can only ban safe abortions. Studies clearly indicate that especially BIPoC (Black, Indigenous, People of Colour), poor and less educated people suffer from high mortality rates, health issues and financial hardship due to the banning of abortions. This is clearly a social justice issue!
Volt is of the opinion that women and people with a uterus should be able to determine their own fate just as much as men can. Banning abortions is at its core sexist and antisocial and goes against all values we as Volt hold dear.
We as Volt Europa urge the EU and its member states to invest into proper sexual education on all levels, especially from a young age on and in underprivileged and rural ares. We also advocate for a general right to abort pregnancies in all member states of the European Union, in addition to giving safe harbour to all those who want to terminate their pregnancies and flee from prosecution due to “illegal” abortions.