A ROYAL BETRAYAL OF CATHOLIC MORALS & HUMAN RIGHTS ETHICS: CATHOLIC MONEGASQUE NATIONAL COUNCIL VOTES UNANIMOUSLY TO LIBERALIZE ABORTION—APRIL 2009 ACT ACUTELY SUBSTANTIATES THE UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL’S MAY 2009 NEGATIVE CRITIQUE REGARDING MONACO’S VOID OF A NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS PROTECTION REGIME AND CONTRAVENES MONACO’S NATIONAL CONSTITUTION & VATICAN LAWS INCURRING AUTOMATIC EXCOMMUNICATION OF ALL CATHOLIC MEMBERS OF MONACO’S PARLIAMENT

By Serene Ecclesial Lady, Dna. Maria St. Catherine De Grace Sharpe, Ambassadeur du Christ (Oxon), t.o.s.m., T.O.SS.T.

Ecclesiastical Diplomatic Scholar, Specializing in Roman Catholic/Vatican/Holy See Pontifical Ecclesiastical Law, Diplomacy & Int’l Human Rights and Monegasque International, Diplomatic & Human Rights Affairs & The John Paul II Vatican Diplomatic Affairs World Scholar

In an unprecedented act of moral defiance of its official Catholic state religion, on April 3, 2009, Monaco’s 26-member Parliament, known as the National Council of the Principality of Monaco voted unanimously, 26-0, to liberalize, and thus revise, its heretofore strict abortion law which fully and comprehensively banned all forms of abortion. With respect to abortion, Article 248 of the Monegasque Penal (Criminal) Code, dated 28 September 1967, in its original form stated:

Whoever, by any means whatsoever, shall have acquired or attempted to procure the miscarriage of a pregnant woman that she had consented or not, shall be punished by imprisonment of one to five years and a fine under figure 3 of Article 26. The term shall be five to ten years and fine that under item 4 of Article 26 if it is determined that the culprit was usually delivered to the acts referred to in the preceding paragraph. Shall be punished by imprisonment of six months in trios years and the fine provided for in paragraph 3 of Article 26 the pregnant woman who will be procured abortion itself or attempts to procure or has consented to use the resources provided or administered for that purpose. Physicians, surgeons, midwives, the pharmacists and any person exercising regularly or not, a work of public health concern, which would have indicated, promoted or practiced how to obtain an abortion shall be punished by imprisonment five to ten years and the fine provided for in paragraph 4 of Article 26, a suspension for five years or less completely unable to exercise their profession may, where appropriate, be pronounced against the guilty. Whoever violates the prohibition to practice his profession, imposed under the preceding paragraph shall be punished by imprisonment of six months in trios years and the fine provided for in paragraph 3 of Article 26.

The National Council of the officially Catholic Principality of Monaco has now passed a law revising Monaco’s heretofore strict abortion law to now permit abortions in “hard cases”, i.e., the three instances of rape, fetal deformity, fetal illness or when the mother's life is in danger. This new law contravenes the ecclesiastical human rights rules of law of the Roman Catholic Church banning all forms of abortion, including abortion in the “hard case” instances of rape, fetal deformity and fetal illness or when the mother’s life is in danger. This is the first instance where a country possessing the Roman Catholic religion as its official state religion has moved, in contravention to official Roman Catholic laws, to liberalize its strict abortion laws. The new law, law No. 1.359 revising Article 248 of the Monegasque Penal Code and Article 323 of the Monegasque Civil Code, has been promulgated in the official legislative Journal of Monaco, ( the official bulletin of Monaco), No. 7.909 dated 24/04/2009 and may be reviewed by visiting the Journal de Monaco dated 24/04/2009 found at: http://www.gouv.mc/dataweb/Jourmon.nsf/9bf97b0da6308cfdc12568c40037f873/8d4ccacb97bf8643c12575a20024b780!OpenDocument. Additional details about the new law’s process of promulgation may be found at: http://www.conseil-national.mc/loidetail.php?cat=1&etat=1&ind=166 the official website of the National Council of the Principality of Monaco.

This vote of the National Council modifying Monaco’s strict law on abortion incidentally preceded, almost exactly one month to the day, the UN Human Rights Council’s 4 May 2009, Periodic Review of the fulfillment of human rights obligations of the Principality of Monaco. The results of the UN Human Rights Councils Periodic Review of Monaco were highly critical of the Principality for not yet having established “a national human rights institution in accordance with the Paris Principles” among other findings. The report’s recommendations may be found on the web at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/UPR/Pages/MCSession5.aspx. While the UN’s human rights recommendations with respect to Monaco have not yet been added to the website of the Principality’s Permanent Mission to the United ...