A battle to win

Doctor of medicine Anna Záborská has been involved with pro-life issues for the whole time of her work as a member of the European Parliament (EP) representing Slovak republic. Participating at presidency of civil association Forum for Life – one of two organizations coordinating the European Citizens’ Initiative "One of Us" in Slovakia – she speaks with Danka Jaceckova for SIR Europe about general spirit regarding the initiative within EP, as well as about atmosphere in her country.What was your personal motivation to support the initiative One of us?"I am glad that the citizens of the European Union (EU) have such opportunity to influence the legislation regarding issues within the EU competence. The aim of this initiative is to stop financing the research on human embryos from the EU budget and I have joined it because I’ve been trying to change this financing by proposing of law amendments for years. The reason is that in many member states, the experiments with embryos are defined as criminal acts and the citizens of those countries are forced – whether they want it or not – to contribute to funding of such experiments in the countries where they are permitted".What level of cultural and social effort is required to influence public opinion, to motivate the citizens to sign the initiative?"Not many citizens of EU and in particular of Slovakia know that their taxes are used for funding of the research with which they morally disagree – that’s what we found out during promotion of the campaign and that’s why it’s essential to explain all facts. As soon as they understand, they are very eager to express their disapproval in written form. It’s necessary to explain that apart from funding of embryonal stem cells research there is another problem – spreading of abortion policy in the developing countries which is also financed by EU. I believe that these developing states should decide themselves what legislation to adopt and we definitely shouldn’t pay for implementation of the abortion policy in Africa or anywhere else". How would you describe perception of the initiative One of Us by your coleagues in EP?"I would divide them into two groups. The first one is represented by those MEP’s who joined the initiative in March last year, immediately after it was launched. They promote it in their respective countries – mainly the deputies of Hungary, Slovenia, Poland, Germany, Portugal, and I could continue like this, concerns about 15-18 states. Then there are the members of EP who are not involved in the initiative, which I think is mainly because they don’t know much about it. Of course, they know about opportunity for the citizens to sign initiatives requiring legislation amendments in EU but they have very little information about this concrete initiative One of Us".Do you believe – in case the initiative is successfully submitted to the European Commission (EC) – that it will result in concrete legislative measures? Do you think that the European institution will be open to proposals dealing with protection of embryos and dignity of human life?"We know the atmosphere in EP and EU in regard to experiments with human embryos and I can say that many politicians, as well as researchers, support them. I am glad that there has been an initiative in favour of culture of life registered by EC and if it’s successful, EC and consequently EP will have to deal with these issues on the level of legislation. It will also be a form of education, promotion of culture of life, because some of my coleagues don’t really think certain things to the end. I take it as an immense opportunity and if the pressure is strong enough, I believe that the legislative norms could be changed".How do you see the development in regard to these issues within the horizon of 2020?"The fact is that embryonal stem cells research hasn’t brought any satisfying results so far, although it has been going on for a decade. It’s important that people know about it. The researchers keep hoping to discover something great but we have to think about big amounts of money that are wasted this way. I am convinced that now that the debate about the topic gets more and more intense, experts will prove that this kind of research has no effect and that in spite of a strong lobby of the research institutions, the measures will be taken to end this kind of research. It’s not only an ethical or legislative problem. Now – in times of crisis – it has also an economical dimension".How can you describe the situation in Slovakia in regard to perception of the initiative One of Us?"Slovakia is one of five countries that have already reached the number of required signatures for the support of the initiative. Thus, we can say that our promotion and explanation of the issue has been successful. But we shouldn’t rest on our laurels because there’s another condition to be met – one million signatures must be collected within whole EU. So we need to continue in our efforts".