The new president of Croatia’s Constitutional Court has started a process to assess whether the law which has allowed abortion since 1978 is constitutional. Miroslav Šeparović, president of the Court since June 2016, started with a meeting that analysed documentary materials and plans to consider the opinions of medical experts, specialists in family law, international documents, the practice of European courts, and various non-governmental organisations.He gave as his reason for launching this review now as follows: “This is an issue which has caused divisions in Croatian society, and previous presidents of the Constitutional Court have reasonably concluded that it was not the right time to put the issue on the agenda, because such discussions would further deepen social conflicts. The Constitutional Court must act in a calming manner. I think that today Croatia is mature enough as a state for the circumstances to have changed, and it is time for the Constitutional Court to finally make the decision.”The original request for a review was submitted in 1991 by the Croatian Movement for Life and Family, on the constitutionality of the “Law on Health Care Measures for the Implementation of the Right to Freely Decide on Giving Birth to Children” of 1978.SOURCE: Total Croatia News, by Vedran Pavlik, 11 October 2016PHOTO: Anadolu Agency/Stipe Majic