” “Switzerland: two referendums

The promotion of “a series of measures in support of women and for the protection of families”, such as “social insurance on maternity, paid leave, child allowances, kindergartens, reduction of insurance premiums for illness, and tax relief”, combined with “a system of counselling and assistance for pregnant women, capable of offering practical help with the support of the State”: these are the measures indicated by the Swiss bishops to combat the scourge of voluntary interruptions of pregnancy, on average some 13,000 per year in Switzerland. An occasion to discuss these measures was given in recent days by a press conference held in Bern during which, in the presence of the president of the Swiss Episcopal Conference, Msgr. Amédée Grab, and the bishop of Basel, Msgr. Kurt Koch, the French edition of the “Nine Theses on the Interruption of Pregnancy” drawn up by the theological Commission of Swiss bishops was presented; the German edition of the same document was already published in September last year (cf. SirEurope no.1/2001). On 2 June Swiss citizens will be called to vote on a referendum on abortion which – explain the bishops – would involve “the depenalization of the voluntary interruption of pregnancy during the first twelve weeks”. The Episcopal Conference emphasizes, however, that “the problem of the protection of life cannot be resolved solely in the perspective of penal law”. Modifications of the Penal Code and the views of the bishops. At the present time abortion is a penal offence under the Swiss Penal Code; but in actual fact a wide margin of discretion is left to physicians who may legitimately carry out abortions for therapeutic reasons. For, in accordance with the amendments, corrections and supplementations of articles 118 of 119 of the Penal Code approved by the Federal Parliament on 23 March 2001, the interruption of pregnancy is not a penal offence if, “in the physician’s judgement, it is necessary to avoid the danger of a grave physical injury or grave psychological distress in the pregnant mother”. In the bishops’ view, “in these new articles the State does not take sufficiently seriously its own role for the protection of human life in the womb”, delegating it “substantially to the sole responsibility of the women involved or of the physicians treating them”, and does not concern itself with “providing assistance to women in difficulty”. Another project on abortion is “Pour la mère et l’enfant”, proposed by popular initiative. It too will be submitted to the vote in the referendums being held on 2 June. It expresses a clear rejection of abortion. But the bishops consider this proposal “insufficient”, because “it cannot be implemented” without “a clear political will” to provide appropriate “accompaniment and support for families”. However, says the document, the Swiss Episcopal Conference does not provide any indication on how to vote on the matter; rather, it “exhorts the faithful and the population to devote themselves actively to a better protection of the mother and the child”. “Femmes dans l’église”. “We believe in the dissuasive effect of the Penal Code, since for some time now abortion [in Switzerland] no longer involves judicial consequences”; we also consider that “the independence of choice that the law now attributes to a pregnant woman” is excessive: so said Rose-Marie Umbricht-Maurer, president of the “Femmes dans l’église” Commission of the Episcopal Conference, speaking during the press conference of the Swiss bishops. Since 1996 the Commission has devoted its energies to the prevention of abortion. “A family policy worthy of this name” in a country in which “a climate far from favourable to the family and to children reigns in so many fields”; that is the hope expressed by Umbricht-Maurer, pointing out that “today it ought no longer to happen that women should be forced to choose between profession and children for the sole reason that a spare place in a good kindergarten has become a rare commodity”. According to the president of the Commission, “having children cannot be reduced to a merely private affair for which society and the institutions have abdicated all responsibility”. Giovanna Pasqualin Traversa