SW News: The inclusion of abortion right into the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights was denounced by bishops of EU countries on Tuesday in a statement, who claimed that doing so would violate both EU law and the dignity of all people.

The act would be an "ethical indefensibility" against human rights and European law, according to the Commission of the Bishops' Conferences of the European Union. Human dignity is an overarching value in the EU Treaties and Charter. They said that the founding fathers of the European Union were very conscious of the fundamental importance of the inalienable dignity of the human being.

The bishops noted that respect for the dignity of every human being in every stage of their life, especially in situations of complete vulnerability, is a fundamental principle in a democratic society, noting that human dignity is an overarching value in the EU Treaties and Charter.

From a legal perspective, there is no recognized right to abortion in European or International Law. They said that neither the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights nor the European Convention of Fundamental Rights endorses such a right to abortion.

The statement said that Article 5.2 of the Treaty of the European Union should be respected. There are no competencies at the EU level for regulating abortion and it must be seen that fundamental rights cannot establish competencies of the Union.

It said abortion engages the Right to privacy in family life, but the State also has a legitimate interest in protecting unborn children and has a duty to ensure that laws do not reinforce discrimination against people with disability or undermine the rights of conscience of healthcare professionals.

In the end, respect for the diversity of these regulations and the great importance of each constitutional tradition in weighing divergent fundamental rights in a conflict over pregnancy suggest not to constitute a right to abortion as a general principle of the Union's law.