Left-liberal opposition parliamentary groups and some MPs of the ruling majority from the HSLS and Reformists parties, said on Friday that they had collected 40 signatures for a parliamentary debate on the incorporation of the woman's right to decide about giving birth in the Constitution.

“We have collected signatures of 40 MPs forthe debate on the inclusion of the following provision in the Constitution: ‘A woman decides independently and freely on giving birth, the state provides the prerequisites for exercising that right’,” Pedja Grbin (SDP) told a press conference.

“We think that human rights are one of the most important thighs that define whether a society is truly democratic. Respecting human rights is what defines us, and the woman’s right to choose is a human right,” he said.

In addition to the SDP, behind this are also the Green-Left Bloc, the IDS, the HSS, Workers’ Front, GLAS, and the Centre party, nine MPs of the Social Democrats, as well as the HSLS and Reformists parties, which are part of the ruling majority.

Grbin: If we don’t get support in parliament, we’ll call citizens to support us

This means, Grbin said, that there will be a debate in the parliament, followed by a vote to include the woman’s right to choose in the Constitution, and then no one will be able to question it anymore.

“If we don’t get support for this in parliament, then we will… call citizens to support us in collecting signatures for a referendum,” said Grbin.

Natalija Martincevic of the Reformists, who are part of ruling coalition, said that her party strongly supported this initiative.

Bacic: It is acceptable that our partners support opposition’s abortion initiative

The ruling HDZ’s whip Branko Bacic said today that the issue of termination of pregnancy was clear from a constitutional point of view, so there was no need to add it to the Constitution, saying also it was acceptable that some of their coalition partners supported the opposition’s initiative to include the right to abortion in the Constitution.

There is no need to change the Constitution in the part related to termination of pregnancy because four years ago the Constitutional Court clearly said that the existing law was absolutely in accordance with the Constitution, said Bacic.

On the other hand, he added, I don’t see any serious initiative from any strong political party for a ban on termination of pregnancy that would necessitate dealing with the matter from a constitutional and legal point of view.

As for the support from our coalition partners for the opposition’s initiative, I’ve already said earlier that we don’t have a unified position within the ruling coalition, he said.

“We are aware of that, we respect their ideological position and world view. That is not part of our coalition agreements,” Bacic said.