The role of values in EU bioethics politics

This article analyzes the effect of values on European morality politics through the abortion issue. In front of the politicization of a sovereign competence within the EU, the American theory of culture wars enables to study the instrumentalization of values by faith-based groups. The qualitative methodological approach relies on both semi-structured interviews and documents analysis. The results confirm that values help actors to (re) assert a particular identity. EU-level controversies on the meaning of secular – but not value-free – notions then induce a shift from values as resources to values as ends. This could have an impact on traditional European politics.