Yesterday, on January 25, 2012, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) adopted a  Resolution stating that “euthanasia must always be prohibited.” This articulates a strong principle for life and against euthanasia, given that, for the first time, euthanasia has been so clearly rejected by a European political institution. 
 
This is a third major victory for life and dignity of the weakest, after the 2010 resolution that strengthened freedom of conscience for doctors and medical staff and after the European Court of Human Rights asserted last year that there is no right to euthanasia or assisted suicide under the European Convention.

The resolution passed yesterday states in §5: “Euthanasia, in the sense of the intentional killing by act or omission of a dependent human being for his or her alleged benefit, must always be prohibited.”

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Today, we exceptionally report on an US initiative that targets a problem not less relevant in Europe than across the Atlantic. In an open letter, religious leaders of the largest faith communities in the US defend marriage as the foundational institution of all societies.

The letter demonstrates the connection between marriage and religious freedom and leaves no doubt that the redefinition of marriage constitutes a direct attack on religious freedom. Either they stand or they fall together.

Signatories include leaders from Anglican, Baptist, Catholic, Evangelical, Jewish, Lutheran, Mormon, and Pentecostal communities in the United States.

Cardinal-designate Timothy Dolan, archbishop of New York and president of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops states: “The letter makes a compelling argument that needs to be heard by all of us, especially those in positions of authority: anyone truly concerned with religious freedom must also be a defender of marriage’s perennial definition.”

The letter points out serious consequences of redefining marriage that will “arise in a broad range of legal contexts, because altering the civil definition of ‘marriage’ does not change one law, but hundreds, even thousands, at once. By a single stroke, every law where rights depend on marital status—such as employment discrimination, employment benefits, adoption, education, healthcare, elder care, housing, property, and taxation—will change so that same-sex sexual relationships must be treated as if they were marriage. That requirement, in turn, will apply to religious people and groups in the ordinary course of their many private or public occupations and ministries—including running schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other housing facilities, providing adoption and counseling services, and many others,” they said.”

The leaders warn that redefining marriage has consequences for the religious freedom of all and urged civic leaders to defend marriage so as to defend religious liberty.

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Despite the European Court of Justice maintaining the non-patentability of human embryos in a recent decision (Greenpeace vs Brustle, C 34/10), the European Commission continues funding embryonic stem cell research.

Under the name “Horizon 2020”, the European Commission (EC) recently presented to the European Parliament (EP) its next Framework Program for Research and Innovation, which provides €80 billion in funding from 2014 to 2020 for scientific research - including embryonic stem cell research.

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Just recently, on the occasion of World AIDS Day, a solid majority in the European Parliament voted on a resolution declaring that official EU policy for HIV/AIDS prevention should be closely linked to “sexual and reproductive rights” — including safe and legal abortion.

Although a resolution to combat HIV/AIDS is indisputably worthy of parliamentary support, the amalgamation of HIV with abortion suggests an alarming underlying eugenic logic that seems to say: Possible carriers of the HIV virus should be preventively aborted in order to prevent further spreading of the disease.

Prior to the vote by the European Parliament, no discussion at all was held on the real risk of HIV infection or even on the medical possibilities that exist to reduce its transmission. This is why we think it is important to give a few key facts about the medical reality of HIV in both developed and developing countries.

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Yesterday, the European Parliament voted on the HIV/AIDS resolution, on which we reported last week.

Unfortunately, all bad passages were adopted. The resolution calls for “safe and legal” abortion as a means of HIV/AIDS prevention. In other words, the European Parliament is of the opinion that in order to contain the epidemic, the abortion of potential carriers of the virus is a legitimate means.

Only one out of seven problematic passages was rejected by a majority of the EPP group (the group that contains Christian democrats) and about half of the Conservatives, however not enough to ban “safe and legal abortion” from the resolution. All other passages were adopted by a solid majority, including those calling for “strong linkages between sexual and reproductive health and HIV services” (§14) and for “HIV/AIDS prevention [to] become[s] an integral part of sexual and reproductive health care” (Recital AA).

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