Rødt advocates a new abortion law, where the use of abortion tribunals is completely removed. KrF leader Olaug Bollestad calls the proposal unwise.

The proposal, which entails a further liberalisation of the abortion law, was adopted at Rødt’s national meeting on Saturday, issuing a statement that abortion tribunals are a thing of the past. It will become even easier to get an abortion.

This caused another, party leader to react, namely KrF leader. Such a proposal goes straight to one of KrF’s core issues, it is strongly at odds with the party’s values so the reaction is quite predictable.

Party leader Olaug Bollestad tells NTB that she believes Rødt’s proposal will lead to women being left alone with difficult choices:

If the tribunals are perceived as an interrogation or a court, then we have to do something about it. But to remove this process for women who are in a difficult situation, I think it is unwise. It will leave women with a responsibility and a difficult choice all alone.

The KrF leader believes that something must be done about the content and the experience women have of the tribunals:

I have met many women who also experience the opposite, namely that tribunals help women who have difficult choices. It is my idea that we should meet the women and help them sort their thoughts when it is difficult. This is an incredibly difficult choice for all women, says Bollestad

Health policy spokesperson in Rødt, Seher Aydar, however, believes that the tribunals are not a care measure, as Bollestad expresses. She claims the current arrangement is a form of disempowerment of women:

In the courts, pregnant women are put under guardianship. It makes no sense that the woman’s right to decide over her own body is transferred from her to a tribunal. We cannot accept that, says Aydar in a statement to NTB.

It is the woman who knows her situation best and is best able to assess whether she wants to terminate the pregnancy or not. Several countries have more self-determination than Norway. Time to modernize our abortion law. We must strengthen self-determination and remove the tribunals, she says

Many will think that it is rather unimportant what the two parties think. KrF is smaller than ever and is struggling to get bigger, but Rødt is a rather extreme wing party far from positions of power. However, in the parliamentary system, they both have the opportunity to end up as so-called tipping points and be able to push through their views.

KrF also has a chance to get a place in government again, as it is a stated goal of Conservative leader Erna Solberg to form the broadest possible coalition on the bourgeois side.