The chairman of the parliamentary group of the ruling Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ), Branko Bacic, said that the proposal to adopt an act on medically assisted termination of pregnancy would not be included on the Parliament agenda until the ruling coalition agreed on it.

Parliament today rejected the Social Democratic Party’s (SDP) bill on medically assisted termination of pregnancy by 78 votes against, 47 in favour and five abstentions. The bill was backed by the Independent Democratic Serb Party (SDSS) and the Croatian Social Liberal Party (HSLS), both members of the ruling coalition, while some of the ethnic minority MPs, Silvano Hrelja of the Croatian Pensioners’ Party (HSU) and Predrag Stromar of the Croatian People’s Party (HNS) abstained from voting.

“We within the ruling coalition, as shown by today’s vote, have differing views on this matter, which was not the subject of our coalition agreement or the government’s work programme,” Bacic told reporters.

It is important to the HDZ that the present law, adopted in 1978, is in line with the constitution and that it does not prevent women from exercising their right to have an abortion before the 10th week of pregnancy. If the Constitutional Court had found the present law to be unconstitutional, it would be a completely different situation, he added.

Bacic said that the SDP bill showed that pregnancy termination was the main driver of the bill and that it failed to comply with the Constitutional Court ruling that clearly stated that pregnancy termination should be an exception.

He noted that the bill made no reference to any preventive and educational measures and that in fact it regarded pregnancy termination as “a substitute for family planning and a contraceptive”, which the HDZ is opposed to.

Bacic warned that the SDP bill made no mention of women’s right to a pregnancy termination after the 22nd week “even though the opposition tried to free-ride on the case of Mirela Cavajda.”