Pro-choice campaigners declare victory following Commission decision on cross-border abortion access.
Up until now, more than 20 million women in Europe have lacked access to safe abortion, says the My Voice, My Choice citizens’ initiative, which has been campaigning hard to change this.
The decision
The citizens’ initiative was submitted to the European Commission in September, having collected more than 1.1 million signatures.
While the Brussels executive had come under fire for refusing to meet My Voice, My Choice representatives prior to announcing its decision yesterday (26 February), it did ultimately offer them the bare bones of what they were asking for: a way of supporting member states that volunteer to provide safe abortion care for citizens of other EU countries.
Nika Kovač, founder of the Slovenian NGO the 8th of March Institute and coordinator of the My Voice, My Choice campaign, was elated on leaving the Commission yesterday.
Nika Kovač, Coordinator of the My Voice, My Choice Campaign (in English):
“We just came from the European Commission. We have a yes. We have a yes! The European Commission found a pathway by which it is possible that very soon countries can start offering safe and accessible abortion to women who do not have it. Not just this, they can also offer free travel and accommodation, which is also huge and something that we didn’t ask for. The disappointment is that there is no additional money allocated for this, but we decided that for now, we will take this as a victory, and we all can say that we have changed history today.”
Although Brussels has no legislative competence when it comes to health, it is capable of putting in place cross-border solidarity measures that work in this field. And at yesterday’s press conference, Commission vice-present Roxana Mînzatu “clarified” that member states were able to use the European Social Fund (ESF) Plus to fund procedures and related costs, including travel costs, linked to the provision of cross-border abortion services.
Roxana Mînzatu, Vice-President of the European Commission (in English):
“It’s a shared management fund. Member states that have the legal framework to support abortions, and that want to use ESF money to help women in vulnerable situations from other member states access safe abortions, will create a project – I won’t go into technicalities – decide on the amount of money, the number of beneficiaries, and open the possibility for women in other member states to apply for support so that they can access in that member state the respective services. The money that is put at the disposal of women is in the member states that, of course, have a legal framework and a healthcare system where abortion is legally offered.”
As Nika Kovač mentioned, though, they stopped short of providing any actual additional funding.
The background
In a recent interview with Austrian radio station Agora, Kovač’s colleague at the 8th of March Institute, Nika Povž, explained that there are – and will continue to be – clear discrepancies between European countries when it comes to safe access to abortions.
Nika Povž, Communications Director at the 8 March Institute (in Slovenian):
“The situation in Europe varies greatly. In Poland, for example, women are dying in hospitals because abortion is illegal. In Malta, they can go to prison for wanting to have an abortion. In Italy, more than 80 per cent of gynaecologists refuse to perform abortions on the grounds of conscience. Access is also very poor in Croatia. In Hungary, women are forced to listen to what they call the foetal heartbeat before they can decide to have an abortion. These are all systemic barriers that reduce access to safe abortion.”
https://www.agora.at/news/detail/vive-leurope-56-my-voice-my-choice-za-varen-in-dostopen-splav
At its plenary session in December, the European Parliament passed a resolution, by a comfortable margin, expressing support for the My Voice, My Choice initiative and raising concerns about the legal and practical barriers to abortion that persist in several EU countries.
More concretely, though, it threw its weight behind the initiative’s calls for the Commission to set up a voluntary, opt-in solidarity mechanism, financed by EU funds, to support any member state willing to provide access to safe termination of pregnancy for European women who do not currently have access in their home country.
Swedish Renew Europe MEP, and rapporteur of the Parliament’s December resolution, Abir Al-Sahlani tells France’s euradio why she backed the initiative.
Abir Al-Sahlani, Member of the European Parliament – Renew Europe, Sweden (in English):
“This is giving back the power to women. It’s not about the doctor deciding. It’s not up to their conscience. It’s offering women protection when they’re being discriminated against because a politician thinks that a woman should not be deciding on her own womb and what she wants to carry in her own body. This is about taking the power away from men who think they are privileged to that power; to decide that we are just giving birth to new Europeans because we have a demographic challenge.”
Government ministers from Austria, Estonia, Finland, France, Luxembourg, Poland, Slovenia, Spain and Sweden also wrote to equality commissioner Hadja Lahbib on 17 February, urging the Commission to support the initiative.
The opposition
Shortly before the Commission took its decision, Renascença spoke to Isilda Pegado, the president of the Portuguese Federation for Life. For her part, she considers the proposal unacceptable.
Isilda Pegado, President of the Federação Portuguesa Pela Vida (in Portuguese):
“This is known as abortion tourism. When a woman who lives, for example, in a country where abortion is not permitted and wishes to have an abortion goes to a country where it is permitted. Or, as another example, a Portuguese woman who is more than 10 weeks pregnant and wishes to have an abortion, regardless of the age of the foetus, can go to a foreign country and the European Union will finance the cost of the trip and the procedure.”
Pegado suggested that such a move by Brussels would be radically overstepping its remit.
Isilda Pegado, President of the Federação Portuguesa Pela Vida (in Portuguese):
“This is an initiative that goes against the sovereignty of the states themselves, because the states have defined the protection of human life within certain parameters. Portugal had a decision by the Constitutional Court; had a referendum saying that human life, from 10 weeks onwards, is not at anyone’s disposal and must therefore be protected, and that abortion is not allowed. Doing something like this is, in effect, an attack on the sovereignty of the states themselves.”
Abir Al-Sahlani disagrees.
Abir Al-Sahlani, Member of the European Parliament – Renew Europe, Sweden (in English):
“This initiative is proposing a financial mechanism that is not intervening with national legislation or national law or how member states are organising either abortion legislation or health care services.”
The activist
Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts has dedicated her entire working life to helping women safely terminate pregnancies – whether it is a case of abortions or unviable pregnancies or incomplete miscarriages – even when this is not legally possible in their home countries.
On The Europeans podcast some months ago, she was asked what she considers the biggest misconception about how abortion currently works in Europe.
Rebecca Gomperts, Dutch Physician and Activist (in English):
“Many people don’t realise that there are so many different laws. Many people think it’s available, that it’s a right. It’s not. There’s only one country in Europe where it’s a constitutional right, and that’s France.”
Gomperts is probably best known for launching Women on Waves, a foundation that, in the early noughties, took abortions to countries where the practice was criminalised. Boats would collect women and take them into international waters to receive the care they needed. In Europe, they notably sent missions to Portugal, Spain and Poland. More recently, her focus has been on shipping abortion pills to women living in places where legal options are not available.
She was named one of Time magazine’s 100 most influential people in 2020 for her pioneering work in abortion access. But, as she tells The Europeans, she cannot contemplate retiring when there is still so much to do.
Rebecca Gomperts, Dutch Physician and Activist (in English):
“The ultimate way we have to go is that there are no laws anymore and that the medication is just available in any drugstore, like a painkiller. I mean, that is where it has to be. And that is how safe it is. We know that women can do it and the fact that it’s still a criminal offence anywhere is outrageous. So we really have to fight for that.”
https://www.europeanspodcast.com/all-episodes/toxic-chemicals-abortion-rights-nazi-era-train-law
The battle continues
And there is certainly still a battle ahead, agrees MEP Al-Sahlani, who cautions that well-funded anti-gender movements are on the rise across the world.
Abir Al-Sahlani, Member of the European Parliament – Renew Europe, Sweden (in English):
“They are well-organised, they are well-financed and they are well coordinated. […] The money mainly comes from the US and Russia. So we have to be very aware. We know that between […] 2019 and 2023, there was 1.2 billion US dollars – funded by Russia and the US, but also some Europeans – pumped into that movement. And the biggest European contributor is… Viktor Orbán. So, if we do not put in at least the same amount of money to counter them, then we are really not walking the talk, we are just talking the talk. Because politics, at the end of the day, is about money.”
Yes, the push for safe and accessible abortion for all of Europe’s women faces opposition. But Slovenian campaigner Nika Povž insists that these voices remain in the minority.
Nika Povž, Communications Director at the 8 March Institute (in Slovenian):
“The vocal minority opposing women’s fundamental rights and their health choices should in no way overshadow the fact that the vast majority of Europeans are very clear on these issues and very supportive of the topic.”
The My Voice, My Choice initiative sees yesterday’s announcement, although far from perfect, as a clear step in the right direction.
