Nordic Council: Faroese abortion law needs upgrade

Unlike the other Nordic countries, the Faroe Islands do not have free abortion.

This is not in line with Nordic equality values, and it would make good sense to review Faroese abortion practices, argues the Nordic Council Committee for Welfare.

“It is not our job to govern the laws of each individual Nordic country, but the Nordic region prides itself on its high equality standards,” says welfare committee member Bente Stein Mathisen.

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“And when we see that the Faroe Islands are so clearly out of line with Nordic equality principles regarding a woman’s right to choose, we feel it is right to speak up.”

This has not gone down well with Jaspur Langgaard Faroese MP representing Sambandsflokkuring (The Union Party), who is a member of the Nordic Council’s Committee for Growth and development.

“To me, the child’s right to life is clearly more important than the woman’s right to abort a child,” he says.

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He has made his views clear to the Nordic Council’s Welfare Committee, arguing that the committee is venturing beyond its remit.

“This debate could easily end up on a slippery slope,” he says.

“If the Nordic Council is allowed to interfere in this issue, this could easily extend to issues such whaling in the Faroes, NATO membership in Sweden and EU membership in Norway – these are all matters that the Nordic Council are not authorised to interfere in.”

Responding to Langgaard’s comments, Mathisen says: “We simply wish to put the Faroese way of thinking in this area into a broader Nordic context. We have no intention of forcing any legal change.”

Read the Faroese version of this article here

Translated by prosa.fo

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