Abortions funded by state under fire
Jul 30, 2008
In cooperation with BNS
TALLINN - Financing of abortions on demand
from the state budget is not justified, sayYoung Conservatives, the youth
branch of Estonia's Pro Patria and
Res Publica Union.
Financing abortions performed without medical necessity or the
abortions on demand from the state budget is on the constitutionally and
legally impermissible and politically unjustified, the association said in a
statement.
Every year millions of kroons of taxpayers' money is spent to
support a practice that ignores the most fundamental human rights and is
destructive to the Estonian
nation, Young Conservatives said.
They pointed out that 9,378 abortions on demand were performed
in Estonia in 2006 and the
Health Insurance Fund paid 1,578.5 kroons (EUR 101) for each procedure or 70
percent of its cost. Thus, the state spent more than 14.5 million kroons to
fund abortions that year.
Apart from constitutional arguments, the Young Conservatives
also see that the fact is it is not appropriate for the state to finance
medical procedures performed without medical justification speaks against
public funding of abortions.
As the Young Conservatives see it, such use of the taxpayers'
money is unacceptable. In their words, the funds were better spent on devising
and implementing in schools an efficient family planning program.
In the association's view, the concept of mandatory
pre-abortion counseling should be reviewed and the counseling made more
effective.
They also called for developing an effective adoption system
to bring together the needs of unborn children and childless couples longing
for a child.
Estonia
needs a more general public discussion of abortion-related issues, Young
Conservatives added. One question it should address is how the state could
fulfill its constitutional duty to ensure effective protection of the right to
life of the unborn.
"In the present situation, with Estonia having one of the highest abortion rates in the world,
there can be no talk of fulfilling this obligation," Young Conservatives
said. "The first step that should be taken towards rectifying this
situation is making an end of the unconstitutional public funding of
abortions."