| For Immediate Release Rome, 28th February 2012 A senior Member of the European Parliament has called on the UK government to carry out a monthly audit of all abortions that receive funding from the British taxpayer, after a newspaper exposed terminations being illegally carried out on the basis of gender. Nirj Deva MEP, President of the International Committee on Human Dignity, said such an audit would ensure that the British people "can finally begin an informed debate on how much public money funds abortions on the basis of nothing but gender." Following news of the practice reported in London's Daily Telegraph on February 23rd, Health Secretary Andrew Lansley pledged to carry out an urgent and thorough investigation, and handed the matter over to the police. He called illegal abortion "morally repugnant". The head of the Care Quality Commission - the body tasked with regulating such practices - resigned after the story broke. Deva, who recently came second in the elections for the European Parliament's Speaker, congratulated the government for its "prompt response" and praised Lansley for "his brave, principled stance". The MEP said he knew from experience the kind of hostility the minister could now expect. "Several years ago I introduced an amendment to the EU's Development Budget, demanding a gender audit on every overseas abortion that is paid for by EU taxpayers - this was before people were talking much about the issue of gendercide," Deva said. "Sadly, the socialists and liberals joined together to defeat my amendment, saying explicitly that a woman's right to choose an abortion must remain sacrosanct, including the right to choose not to have a girl." Deva added that these latest revelations, which the newspaper exposed through undercover reporting, regrettably came as no surprise: "For me it was a bit like the famous scene in Casablanca when Claude Rains exclaims to Humphrey Bogart: "I'm shocked, shocked to find that there's gambling going on in here" while simultaneously pocketing in one smooth action his evening's winnings." "If you talk to people in the abortion industry, they all know that this is happening, but it's obviously not in their commercial interests to talk about it, so they just impose a culture of silence, and then intimidate anyone who dares to challenge them. My own modest proposal for an analysis of abortions was roundly defeated by those whose vested interests keep the abortion trade out of the public domain, away from clear legal parameters and solely within their own power," he said. "I remember observing with sadness that the ideological fanaticism of some of the UK's MEPs from the political Left who were advocating a so-called liberty for mothers abroad that is illegal at home." "The very people claiming that their support of abortion derives from 'gender equality' are in fact actively promoting a life-killing practice of gender inequality." Deva said statistics from around the world clearly prove that gender-selected abortions heavily discriminate against the female gender. "It is the duty of all who genuinely believe in gender equality to open their eyes to the most grievous injustice dealt to women globally, the very denial of their basic right to life," he said. "I would like, therefore, on behalf of the Dignitatis Humanae Institute, to offer a helpful contribution to the debate and ask that every single abortion that is funded by the British taxpayer, either wholly or in part, has the gender recorded of each baby being terminated, and for these results to be compiled and made public on a monthly basis," he said. Deva, who is also the Vice President of the European Parliament's Development Committee, also invited politicians in other parliaments around the world to contact him for advice on how to table similar amendments in their own national assemblies by emailing him at nirj.deva@dignitatishumanae.com. "The time has come for full disclosure," Deva concluded. |
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| The Dignitatis Humanae Institute aims to uphold human dignity based on the anthropological truth that man is born in the image and likeness of God and therefore has an innate human dignity of infinite worth to be upheld. The Institute promotes this understanding by supporting Christians in public life, assisting them to present effective and coherent responses to increasing efforts to silence the Christian voice in the public square. |
