Right to abortion: a new fundamental right? From a resolution to an EU fundamental right
Right to abortion: a new fundamental right? From a resolution to an EU fundamental right
Date
2023
Authors
Schulz, Anna Maria
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Abstract
In reaction to the U.S. Supreme Court decision to overturn Roe vs. Wade in 2022, the EU
Parliament calls in its resolution P9_TA(2022)0302 for the right to abortion to be included in
the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. This work analyses the quality of the proposal by the
EU Parliament against criteria set up by Philipp Alston.
This thesis also investigates why abortion is still regarded as a sensitive issue today, before it
illustrates how the ECJ and ECtHR have dealt with abortion in the past, citing and summarizing
the most important case law on the matter. The analysis of the case law is subject matter in
numerous Articles in academic literature – but whether the EU resolution P9_TA(2022)0302
offers a potential solution has not been assessed. In order to answer this question, this thesis
uses the doctrinal research method, focusing on EU primary law, the case law of the ECJ and
the ECtHR, the forementioned EU resolution and related academic literature.
Finally, it will be concluded that the right to abortion does in fact fulfill most of the criteria for
setting up a new EU fundamental right. However, the specific proposal by the EU Parliament
is unlikely to meet broad approval by EU Member States. Moreover, the EU currently lacks
competence to enshrine the right to abortion into the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Ultimately, it is concluded that the resolution is more of a symbolic gesture than a proposal
which can be actually implemented in practice.
Description
Second semester University: KU Leuven
Keywords
abortion,
European Union,
Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,
fundamental rights,
human rights,
Court of Justice of the European Union,
European Court of Human Rights