Norwegian bishops reject government bill to amend abortion law

By Charlotte Smeds

“If you change a law, it should be for the better,” according to Mgr Erik Varden, bishop of Trondheim in Norway.

He and Mgr Bernt Edvig, bishop of Oslo, signed an eight-page response to the Norwegian government's proposal to change the country's abortion law in force since 1975.

In 145,000 words, the committee on abortion appointed by the Norwegian government presented its proposal on how and why it will be easier to have an abortion in Norway.

In their response, the bishops note that the length of the text, as well as an inconsistent mix of science, politics and even ideology, make it difficult for the reader to pay attention to the viewpoints that make the project of untenable law.

The main point of the proposal is to extend the deadline for voluntary abortion by six weeks, up to and including the 18th week.

Life begins at conception

The current law is obviously not a good law, Archbishop Varden said in an interview with Vatican News.

The bishops affirm that “in Catholic Christian anthropology it is self-evident that human life begins with conception and from that moment on it deserves respect.”

In their response, the bishops link the current law to the new bill and note a number of ethical, anthropological and philosophical changes, and see in the proposal of a new law on abortion “an obvious step compared to the “Christian and humanist heritage of Norway.”

A choice of life or death

The bishops note that the new bill avoids talking about children, but “simply guarantees pregnant women the right to abortion and access to safe abortions and treatments” so that they can “take independent decisions about their bodies.”

The vocabulary has changed, they note. Instead of talking, as in current law, about society's responsibility to help the woman give birth to her baby, consumerist words such as demand, right and guarantee of quality are used.

The woman's decision-making process is entirely privatized and she must order her abortion on a website via a digital form.

This, the bishops note, leaves her alone “in a choice of life or death.” A choice that a true human society cannot let anyone make alone. »

No gender role conflict

The bill is also deceptively simplistic in characterizing the previous law as outdated and patriarchal.

“Naturally, women, like men, must have autonomy and control over their own bodies,” the bishops say. “But the issue of abortion cannot be reduced, as the text does, to a conflict of gender roles.”

The referral to the abortion committee presents the fetus largely as “an outgrowth of the woman’s body, an organic parasite.”

“A woman cannot be asked to make her body available to a fetus for nine months,” the bill reads.

Unborn child protected by the Norwegian Constitution

However, the bishops point out, “the unborn child” is legally protected by the Norwegian Constitution.

“Even unborn children are among those entitled to inheritance,” the bishops say of the Constitution.

They further note that rights and duties can be assigned to the unborn child, who also enjoys his or her own subjectivity that is not absorbed by that of the mother.

“This part of Norwegian law is forgotten in the bill, which is therefore based on false premises,” observe the bishops.

Is the fetus a child? – In the new law, it depends on whether this is desired

The amendment to the law states that the law must “guarantee respect for unborn children”, but at the same time it specifies that pregnancy must be considered part of the woman's “private life”.

In other words, the new bill confirms that ultimately, the criterion for recognizing the child depends on whether the fetus is wanted or not.

Another ambiguous paragraph of the bill to which the bishops draw attention concerns the question of whether, through advanced fetal diagnosis, children can be aborted due to incorrect appearance and sex or chromosomal abnormalities.

“Once again, the bill establishes a gray area regarding the inviolability of life,” emphasize the bishops.

The duty of bishops to respond

Bishop Varden emphasizes that understanding pregnancy is essential to fully understanding the bill and knowing how to respond to it.

“I am probably the only bishop in the world to have downloaded the “Preglife” application on my phone,” says Bishop Varden with a smile.

“But as bishops, it is our duty to speak openly about political and social issues,” he emphasizes. “Here the law says people have the right to judge for themselves what constitutes a life worth protecting and having value, and that is fatal to society.”