European Parliament Chooses Abortion Activists as Finalists for Human Rights Award

People hold banners while demonstrating outside a police station during 'Solidarity w
Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto

The European Parliament (EP) has chosen among its finalists for the prestigious Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought three women “fighting for a free, safe and legal abortion,” including Planned Parenthood abortionist Colleen McNicholas.

The three abortion advocates on the EP short list are Justyna Wydrzyńska, a member of Poland’s “Abortion Dream Team,” Morena Herrera, a feminist and abortion activist in El Salvador, and Colleen McNicholas, Chief Medical Officer for Planned Parenthood of the St. Louis Region.

According to a fawning profile in women’s fashion magazine Marie Claire, McNicholas “zig-zags across the Midwest” to provide abortions and by the end of an eight-hour workday, “she will have terminated 31 pregnancies.”

“Part of the problem with being so committed and feeling so passionate about an issue is that it’s hard to say no,” McNicholas said. “It’s hard to say, ‘I can’t do that,’ because that means somebody is going without care, and what that means is, they’re probably going to have a baby they don’t want.”

“So ultimately, I end up saying, ‘I can do one more day’ or ‘I can go one more place,’” she added.

Polish activist Justyna Wydrzynska talks to the press after being found guilty of giving abortion assistance in district court in Warsaw, March 14, 2023. (WOJTEK RADWANSKI/AFP via Getty Images)

The European Parliament describes McNicholas as “an American obstetrician-gynaecologist with a strong track record of high-quality patient care and impactful reproductive health advocacy, which makes her a strong candidate for the annual Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, which goes to “individuals and organisations defending human rights and fundamental freedoms since 1988.”

Along with the abortion triad, the EP is considering Jina Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life and Freedom Movement in Iran as well as Vilma Núñez de Escorcia and Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos of Nicaragua.

MEPs on the Foreign Affairs and Development committees made their selection of finalists on Thursday, October 12, in a joint vote.

The European Parliament’s Conference of Presidents will select the winning laureate on Thursday October 19 and the winner will receive the prize at a ceremony in the European Parliament’s hemicycle in Strasbourg on December 13.

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