Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2003-02-12-Speech-3-281"
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"en.20030212.9.3-281"2
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"Mr President, I congratulate Mrs Sandbæk and also Commissioner Nielson for his clear political direction on this issue. His very significant decision to substitute the funding through UNFPA that the Bush Administration wrongly withdrew is a hallmark of his distinguished record as Commissioner for Development.
The European Union and Parliament, this week, have been subject to fundamentally misleading lobbying and publicity concerning the purpose of this regulation. For example, this e-mail from one of my constituents in Cambridge accuses us of 'obliging EU Member States to fund abortions', and adds the labels 'mad', 'irrational' and 'politically correct' for good measure!
As colleagues across the House have made clear, the regulation clearly incorporates the Cairo Agreement that specifically prohibits abortion as a method of family planning. Instead, these people, sadly given succour by some in the House tonight, want to prevent good reproductive health for women in developing countries, where 600 000 entirely preventable deaths of women in childbirth still occur each year. This is also absolutely essential to halt the spread of HIV-AIDS, which currently kills 8 000 people every day.
This is about saving lives, not about losing them.
Men as well as women must take responsibility for sexual health. As a man, that is why I joined with other men and women in this House to seek extra money this year for the reproductive health programme, in my role as budget rapporteur. One has to recall that 160 Members denied us the qualified majority, and EUR 6 million was lost. That money would have helped over 2 million women around the world to have safe pregnancy and birth. I hope that tomorrow we will be able to reinstate this funding, subject to the agreement of our budget colleagues.
In April my own partner is expecting our second baby. I hope and pray that it will be a safe birth, knowing, as I do, that in Europe we have access to the best medical facilities, trained staff and health services that minimise the risks to mother and child. I do not see why any mother, anywhere in the world, should not have the right to the same protection.
That is why I will support this vote and call on others to do so."@en1
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