Abortion rights at issue in European elections

Abortion rights are featuring in this year’s European election campaign in a way we have not seen before.

MAGDALENA FRENNHOFF LARSÉN
15th March 2024

The recent landmark decision in France to inscribe the right to abortion in the constitution serves to protect the law that first legalised abortion in the country in 1975. This law—the so-called Veil law—was championed by Simone Veil, one of France’s most admired and respected political figures, and an icon of the women’s-rights movement.

In 1974, Veil, a magistrate who had been asked by the French president, Valéry Giscard d’Estaing, to serve as health minister in his government, delivered a momentous speech. She presented the public-health case for the decriminalisation of abortion to the National Assembly, which at the time was composed almost entirely of men.

Continued: https://www.socialeurope.eu/abortion-rights-at-issue-in-european-elections

15.03.2024

Commentary

Alternative for Germany

Emmanuel Macron

European parliamentEuropean parliament

European People’s Party

European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights

Abortion rights are featuring in this year’s European election campaign in a way we’ve not seen before

March 13, 2024
Magdalena Frennhoff Larsén

The recent landmark decision in France to inscribe the right to abortion in the constitution serves to protect the law that first legalised abortion in the country in 1975. This law – the so-called Veil law – was championed by Simone Veil, one of France’s most admired and respected political figures, and an icon of the women’s rights movement.

In 1974, Veil, a magistrate who had been asked by French President Valéry Giscard d’Estaing to serve as health minister in his government, delivered a momentous speech. She presented the public health case for the decriminalisation of abortion to the National Assembly, which at the time was composed almost entirely of men.

Continued: https://theconversation.com/abortion-rights-are-featuring-in-this-years-european-election-campaign-in-a-way-weve-not-seen-before-225714

13.03.2024

Commentary

abortion law reform

Alternative for Germany

Emmanuel Macron

EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Simone Veil

Simone Veil Pact

Valéry Giscard d’Estaing

Europe’s growing abortion nightmare

Even in the absence of a ban, for women in need of abortion access, the overall picture is grim — and the worst is yet to come.

JULY 1, 2023
Reporting for this article was carried out by Akmaljon Akhmedjonov, Bernadeta Barokova, Yijing Chen, Pius Fozan, Timotheus Paul Goldinger, Kristina Kovalska, Leila Lawrence, Hanna Perenyi, Carina Samhaber, Stephanie Songer, Marziyeh Taeb, Tripti and Joseph Scioli, masters and PhD students at the Central European University in Vienna, under the editorship of Professor Marius Dragomir.

When she was 19 years old, Anna Peer had an abortion after her intrauterine device malfunctioned. “I didn’t realize at the time how lucky and privileged I was,” said Peer, now 24. “My gynecologist basically carried me through everything.”

But through her work for the Austrian Family Planning Association (ÖGF), an NGO that provides counseling related to reproductive health, Peer now sees “what the system’s actually like.”

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/europes-growing-abortion-nightmare/

01.07.2023

Commentary

Aleksander Stępkowski

Alternative for Germany

Anna Peer

Austrian Family Planning Association

Austrian Life Movement

Brad Hayes

Changes for Women

Charter of Fundamental Rights

Ciocia Wienia

Claire Provost

conscientious objectors

Contraceptive and Sexual Education Society

cost of abortion

criminalization of abortion

Dr. Cemil Yaman

Elke Graf

European Court of Human Rights

European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights

Freedom Party of Austria

pro:woman ambulatorium

Poland’s abortion ruling focus of debate in EU parliament

by VANESSA GERA, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Posted Feb 9, 2021

WARSAW, Poland — Most European Parliament lawmakers on Tuesday lashed out at Poland’s near-total abortion ban Tuesday, with several lawmakers arguing it was a fundamental violation of women’s rights.

Even though some praised authorities in Warsaw for what they called a defence of Christian values and human life, many in the major political groups were critical of the measure in the staunchly Roman Catholic nation.

Continued: https://www.news957.com/2021/02/09/polands-abortion-ruling-focus-of-debate-in-eu-parliament/

09.02.2021

Alternative for Germany

Law and Justice party

German doctor fined for advertising abortion under law that goes back to Hitler’s Reich

German doctor fined for advertising abortion under law that goes back to Hitler’s Reich

Kristina Völk and Peter Conradi, Giessen
July 14 2019
The Sunday Times

Tucked away in a nondescript modern building between a mobile phone shop and a branch of McDonald’s, Kristina Hänel’s surgery seems at first glance typical of countless GP practices across Germany. The plate outside the door gives only her name, followed by “Specialist in general medicine”.

Yet Hänel, 62, from Giessen, a university town north of Frankfurt, is at the forefront of a protracted battle being waged in Germany’s courts, media and parliament to change restrictive abortion laws that date back to the Nazi era.

Continued: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/world/german-doctor-fined-for-advertising-abortion-under-law-that-goes-back-to-hitlers-reich-m6kpxc3vv

The Renaissance of Germany’s Abortion Rights Movement

The Renaissance of Germany’s Abortion Rights Movement

By Kathleen Brown
March 15, 2018

As Germany’s natalist far right rises, a growing progressive movement is challenging the country’s Nazi-era abortion laws.

In November 2017, German doctor Kristina Hänel was found guilty of breaking Paragraph 219a of the German Criminal Code and fined €6,000 by the Gießen District Court. Her crime? Listing abortion as a medical service on her practice’s website.

Dr. Hänel was charged under Nazi-era Paragraph 219a, which criminalizes advertising abortion services. The offense is punishable with up to two years in prison for anyone who publicly “offers, announces or recommends services for pregnancy termination.” In court, Hänel’s defense lawyer argued that her website remains informational and does not meet the definition of advertising. Nonetheless, the Gießen judge found Dr. Hänel guilty, justifying the ruling, “Lawmakers do not want to discuss abortion in public as if it were a normal thing.” Except, as Dr. Hänel and many women know, abortion is a normal thing. Over 100,000 individuals in Germany choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies each year.

Continued: https://www.jacobinmag.com/2018/03/germanys-abortion-rights-movement-afd-fascism