Europe – My Voice, My Choice: For Safe And Accessible Abortion

10/04/2024
European Union
Commission registration number: ECI(2024)000004

Objectives
The “My Voice, My Choice” campaign offers the people of Europe the chance to make women's lives freer, safer, and better; wherever they live in our union, whatever conditions they may find themselves in.

The lack of access to abortion in many parts of Europe not only puts women at risk of physical harm but also puts undue economic and mental stress on women and families, often on the margins of society that can afford it the least.

…To change this we are asking the European Commission to - in the spirit of solidarity - submit a proposal for financial support to Member States that would be able to perform safe termination of pregnancies for anyone in Europe who still lacks access to safe and legal abortion.

Continued: https://citizens-initiative.europa.eu/initiatives/details/2024/000004_en

10.04.2024

European Citizens' Initiative on abortion

European Commission

European Union

My Voice My Choice campaign

Not one more’ woman can fall victim to Poland’s abortion laws

Women must be able to count on the EU to protect them — especially when their own governments are the ones endangering their lives.

BY ROBERT BIEDROŃ
DECEMBER 31, 2022
(Robert Biedroń is a member of the European Parliament and chair of the FEMM Committee on women’s rights and gender equality.)

During the Cold War, women from Western Europe would travel behind the Iron Curtain to access free and legal abortion services in Poland. However, the tables have since turned.

For the last 30 years, Polish women have been subject to increasingly restrictive abortion laws, culminating in the Constitutional Tribunal’s ruling, which introduced a near-total abortion ban in 2020, leaving them with fewer sexual reproductive health rights than in fundamentalist states like Iran.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/women-victim-poland-abortion-laws/

Abortion rights: While the US is on brink of rolling back Roe v Wade, where is Europe headed?

By Luke Hurst
May 6, 2022

Europe is feeling the political shockwaves from the US Supreme Court’s proposed reversal of women’s reproductive rights.

Campaigners have been shocked by the leaked opinion, which suggests it is considering overruling the landmark Roe v Wade case which legalised abortion nationwide in 1973.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/05/06/abortion-rights-with-the-us-on-brink-of-rolling-back-roe-v-wade-where-is-europe-headed

Ukrainian refugees reignite abortion debate in Poland

Tuesday, 19 April 2022
By Liv Klingert

The controversial debate on abortion in Poland has been reignited following the arrival of Ukrainian women refugees who have been victims of sexual violence by Russian soldiers in Ukraine.

Under current restrictive abortion laws, it is uncertain whether women who become pregnant through rape and seek refuge in Poland can still have legal and safe abortions there, De Standaard reported.

Continued: https://www.brusselstimes.com/belgium/218090/ukrainian-refugees-ignite-abortion-debate-in-poland

Poland: A Year On, Abortion Ruling Harms Women

19/10/2021
International Federation for Human Rights

(Brussels, October 19, 2021) – Women, girls,
and all pregnant people have faced extreme barriers to accessing legal
abortions in the year since a Constitutional Tribunal ruling virtually banned
legal abortion in Poland, 14 human rights organizations said today. Since the
ruling, women human rights defenders have also faced an increasingly hostile
and dangerous environment.

Poland’s authorities should end efforts to undermine reproductive rights and
weaken protections from gender-based violence. They should commit to protecting
women human rights defenders who have faced ongoing threats and attacks since
the October 2020 decision. Escalating death threats since October 9 against
Marta Lempart, co-founder of Ognopolski Strajk Kobiet (All-Poland Women’s Strike)
and a target of repeated threats for leading demonstrations supporting legal
abortion and women’s rights, led to her police protection during public
appearances.

Continued: https://www.fidh.org/en/region/europe-central-asia/poland/poland-a-year-on-abortion-ruling-harms-women

19.10.2021

Featured

News

Abortion Support Network

Abortion Without Borders

All-Poland Women's Strike

Amnesty International

Center for Reproductive Rights

CIVICUS

European Commission

European Court of Human Rights

FEDERA

Federation for Women and Family Planning

FOKUS

Human Rights Watch

International Campaign for Women’s Right to Safe Abortion

International Federation for Human Rights

International Planned Parenthood Federation European Network

Istanbul Convention

Law and Justice party

Le Planning Familial

Marta Lempart

MSI Reproductive Choices

Ordo Iuris Institute for Legal Culture

Poland Constitutional Tribunal

Strajk Kobiet

Swedish Association for Sexual and Reproductive Rights

travelling for abortion

MEPs slam Polish abortion ban: ‘Women will suffer

By ELENA SÁNCHEZ NICOLÁS
BRUSSELS, Feb 10, 2021

MEPs have condemned the near-total ban on the right to abortion in Poland, following the entry into force of the country's Constitutional Tribunal ruling.

The highly-politicised court initially ruled last October that all abortions for severe and irreversible foetal abnormalities were unconstitutional, limiting the already very restrictive abortion law in line with Roman Catholic doctrine.

Continued: https://euobserver.com/political/150876

MEPs condemn Poland’s near-total abortion ban

Lawmakers tried to put pressure on Warsaw in parliamentary debate.

BY MAÏA DE LA BAUME
February 9, 2021

MEPs on Tuesday condemned Poland's almost total ban on abortion and called on the European Union to step up its fight against what they see as more backsliding on fundamental rights in the country.

Last month, Poland's top constitutional court published its reasoning on a verdict that tightened the country's already tough abortion laws. The verdict means abortions will be permitted only in cases of rape, incest and when a mother's life is endangered. The initial court ruling, issued in October, stated that abortions for reasons of fetal abnormality violate the constitution, which effectively banned most abortions in the country.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/mep-condemn-poland-abortion-ban/

Four reasons why Poland’s war on abortion should scare you

This is not just ‘Poland being Poland’. These actions are illegal, inhumane and could spread across Europe – and this is just the beginning.

Neil Datta
3 February 2021

Poland’s near-total abortion ban came into effect last week when it was published in the country’s official government gazette. Polish hospitals and medical practitioners are no longer allowed to carry out an abortion in the case of a foetal anomaly. Such cases made up the great majority of terminations performed in the country, which, even before the new ban, already had the harshest abortion law in Europe – now, abortions are only permitted in cases of rape and incest and when the mother’s life or health are endangered.

What’s happening in Poland right now shouldn’t be seen as merely typical behaviour by the Polish state. This is not just ‘Poland being Poland’. These actions are illegal, inhumane and could infiltrate the rest of Europe – and this is just the beginning.

Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/four-reasons-why-polands-war-on-abortion-should-scare-you/

Poland’s government creates constitutional crisis it will find hard to resolve

Malgorzata Tomczak, Warsaw
November 30, 2020

In the past, the problems of the country’s constitutional court were seen as complex and detached from people’s daily lives. Until now that is, when they started to impact on the most private and sensitive areas of Polish women’s lives.

With its recent legal attempt to put further limits on abortion, the ruling Law and Justice Party (PiS) has created a constitutional crisis that will be hard to resolve. And its reckless actions are already impacting on Polish women’s lives.

Continued: https://balkaninsight.com/2020/11/30/polands-government-creates-constitutional-crisis-it-will-find-hard-to-resolve/

Poland hammered on women’s rights in EU debate

By ANDREW RETTMAN
BRUSSELS, 26. NOV, 2020

The European Commission has urged Poland not to abandon a treaty against domestic violence, as Warsaw continues to drift further from EU norms.

"The Istanbul Convention is the gold standard in terms of policy in this area," equality commissioner Helena Dalli said in the European Parliament in Brussels on Wednesday (25 November), referring to a 2011 international treaty.

Continued: https://euobserver.com/justice/150197