The position was proposed by the Ministry of Health.
"The arguments we have laid out are the same – this is the law that runs counter to the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Lithuania, it runs counter to the legal acts of the European Union and runs counter to the rulings of the European Court of Justice, also the bills should be discussed from the point of view of legislative technique," Health Minister Vytenis Andriukaitis told journalists after the meeting.
In his words, “all other measures” and not a law are necessary to reduce the number of abortions in Lithuania.
According to the draft governmental conclusions, the amendments would restrict women's right to private life. Moreover, there are doubts about their consistency with the doctrines of the Constitutional Court, the principles of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, and the jurisprudence shaped by the European Court of Human Rights. Additionally, the ministry said that the bill pending at the Lithuanian parliament featured a number of declarative provisions, which do not contribute to well-defined legal relations, as well as evaluative provisions and incompatible terms.
The Seimas has already given its initial backing to a Law on Life in Prenatal Phase, proposed by lawmakers representing the ruling Electoral Action of Poles in Lithuania, which would ban abortions.
Under the bill, an abortion can be performed only if it poses a threat to the life or health of the woman or it was the result of criminal acts. In such cases, an abortion could be performed by week 12 into the pregnancy.
The Health Ministry said the amendments do not "regulate a situation when investigations into the criminal deeds have been suspended or the criminal deeds haven't been proven, while the pregnancy was terminated amid reasonable suspicions of it being caused by criminal deeds.
Currently, abortions are allowed by week 12 of the pregnancy, with no additional conditions. Around 10,000 abortions are performed in Lithuania every year.
Abortions are banned in Malta, Ireland, and Poland. The remaining EU member states just have abortions deadline ranging from 10 to 18 weeks.
