Today the European Commission published its response to the European Citizens’ Initiative ‘One Of Us’, and has fortunately decided to reject the initiative.

The Commission’s press release including links to the communication and Q&A is available here. It quotes Development Commissioner Piebalgs as saying: “European Citizens’ Initiatives allow people to participate directly in the development of EU policies and we pay great attention to them. Pregnancy and childbirth-related complications are still today the cause of death of too many women. That is why the international community included a specific target to reduce maternal mortality and achieve universal access to reproductive health as one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The EU, its Member States and other international donors are working hard to achieve this and have made this, and health more generally speaking, a priority. Our development programmes in this area aim to expand access to effective family-planning services, therefore preventing the need for abortions”.