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The issue of abortion is making its way onto the European Commission’s agenda. As part of a European citizens’ initiative, the “My Voice, My Choice: For Safe And Accessible Abortion” movement submitted a petition with over 1 million signatures to the Commission on Monday.
The petition calls on the Commission to present a proposal to set up a funding mechanism to guarantee safe and affordable access to voluntary termination of pregnancy.
The coordinator of this initiative, Nika Kovač, recalls the situation of many women in Europe.
“In Europe, 20 million women do not have access to safe and accessible abortion. This means that women continue to die because of limited access to abortion,” she explains.
“We know that even if abortion is banned, women will always find a way to have it. And it’s often dangerous,” adds Nika Kovač.
The members of this initiative also stressed the importance of the petition in the current political context.
“When you see what is happening all over Europe, in Malta, in Poland, in so many countries, and the way the far right is trying to use fundamental human rights, to suppress them, to make them a subject for debate…I think it would be shameful not to fight to defend them,” says Anastasia Giamali, an activist who came from Greece to support the text.
Strong differences
This initiative is a reminder that there are major disparities across Europe when it comes to time limits and rules on abortion.
25 EU Member States have legalised voluntary termination of pregnancy. However, the time limit for abortion varies from 10 weeks in Portugal and Croatia to 24 weeks in the Netherlands. The vast majority of countries set a 12-week window for an abortion.
Poland and Malta are the two Member States with very restrictive legislation. Warsaw allows abortion in cases of rape or danger to the mother’s life. In Malta, the life of the mother and the viability of the foetus are the necessary conditions for abortion.
The Commission has until March to decide whether or not to act on the petition. The Commission also stated in a press release that the initiative does not seek to create a European right to abortion.
