On Wednesday, 21 January, during its plenary session, the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC) held a debate and vote on an opinion supporting the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) “My Voice, My Choice.” The opinion was adopted in favour of the initiative. However, the debate raised serious concerns about bias, transparency, and respect for EU pluralism and treaties.
A Debate Marked by Ideological Excesses
Several interventions framed abortion as a fundamental right and as healthcare, despite the fact that neither EU law nor international human rights treaties recognise a right to abortion, and despite the fact that abortion policy remains a Member State competence.
During the debate, Marie Collins, representative of the European Women’s Lobby (EWL), was present. It is important to note that the EWL and International Planned Parenthood (IPPF) has received €6,945,159 from the European Commission between 2019 and 2023. This funding comes from taxpayers’ money: our taxes are being used to pay EWL and IPPF lobbyists and office in Brussels!
To note: Mr Antonio Moreno Diaz, rapporteur (Workers’Group II, Spain), claimed that women must be “protected from fundamentalist and religious group that prevent them from exercising their rights”.
By linking fundamentalism and religion, he stigmatises millions of European believers and suggests that religions are against human rights, when it was precisely Judeo-Christianity that enabled individual human rights to be established in the West (whereas in the past, only the group mattered). ONE OF US condemns the abuse and ideology involved in equating religions with fundamentalism.
Later in the meeting, the rapporteur branded a “My Voice, My Choice” campaign T-shirt, given to him by the campaign team. This public display of affiliation raises questions about impartiality in the handling of an opinion that should reflect balanced consultation and respect for divergent views.
Women’s Voices ignored by EESC
Weeks earlier, an event calling for better maternity support in the EU organised by One of Us at the European Parliament gathered over 300 participants, including MEPs, and featured six women sharing traumatic experiences of abortion. The testimonies revealed a truth that many in the EESC and pro-abortion groups refuse to see: abortion is traumatic, and it is not a free choice. Many women are pushed into it, often without proper information, medical support, or psychological care.
Transparency and Funding Concerns
During the plenary, the European Commission representative confirmed the cooperation with IPPF, stating that “sexual and reproductive rights are the Commission’s compass.” IPPF received €919,101.60 from the European Commission for 2025.
This raises questions about the transparency and ethics of EU funding, especially given IPPF’s historical links to eugenic ideology through its founder, Margaret Sanger.
It is also worrying that pro-abortion lobbyists in Brussels are actively attempting to introduce abortion into as many EU texts as possible, often beyond the EU’s competences.
Pluralism, Not Dogma, Is the EU’s Strength
The voices of millions of European citizens who signed the strongest ECI in EU history, the One of Us ECI, should be heard and respected, not stigmatized. These citizens call today for: better maternity and parental support, respect for life from conception to natural death, and policies grounded in science, human rights treaties, and EU law.
What threatens democracy is the attempt to silence dissenting views, redefine EU competences by ideology, and marginalise women whose experiences challenge the dominant narrative.
A Call for Institutional Responsibility
The European Union is founded on respect for treaties, subsidiarity, pluralism, and human dignity. The Commission itself acknowledged that the Gender Equality Strategy must operate “in full support of the treaties.”
EU institutions must :
- respect Member State competences,
- ensure full transparency in funding and lobbying,
- and listen to women calling not for abortion, but for real support, care, and dignity.
Europe deserves open debate, democratic integrity, and genuine respect for all human life.
The European Commission is urged to bypass ideology and reject the “My Voice, My Choice” demands to finance abortion tourism in the EU.
