Irish water down EU support for abortion in Africa

Briefing: well done to the Irish. This kind of thing comes up all the time in the EU.

From CFNews: Delegates to the European Union from Ireland have been successful in forcing it to moderate its support for an African plan that promotes abortion continent-wide. The African Union approved the pro-abortion Maputo Plan of Action, a non-binding resolution, in January and pro-life advocates have opposed it ever since. Several African nations signed up to support the Maputo plan, which is seen as a move towards population control that could promote abortions and even forced abortions or sterilizations like those seen in China. It urges African countries to 'enact policies and legal frameworks to reduce incidence of unsafe abortion' and to 'prepare and implement national plans of action to reduce incidence of unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortion.' According to a Catholic World News report, the Irish delegation to the European Union questioned support for the plan at a meeting of European foreign ministers. The Ireland lawmakers said an EU motion to support it would violate previous EU policy against officially endorsing abortion in other nations. CWN reports that a MEPs reached a compromise agreement where the EU would support the plan only 'within the context of EU policies.'