Netherlands – Significant majority chooses to use contraception after conversation in abortion clinic

April 16, 2025
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)

For a period of one year, the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport gave a number of abortion clinics extra time to have conversations about contraception, particularly with people in vulnerable situations. After these conversations, almost 70% opted to use contraception. Almost half opted for long-acting options such as an IUD, and almost one in five opted for a short-acting option such as the pill. These are the results of an evaluation by RIVM of measures to improve access to (free) contraceptives.

Continued: https://www.rivm.nl/en/news/significant-majority-chooses-to-use-contraception-after-conversation-in-abortion-clinic

16.04.2025

News

Ministry of Health Welfare and Sport

National Institute for Public Health and the Environment

‘You are not alone, abortions are more common than you think’

Maya (24) got pregnant by a classmate while pursuing a Bachelor’s in Spanish Language & Culture at UU. She was not ready to have a child and chose to have an abortion. Her story is far from uncommon. Recently, Maya collaborated with writer Diet Groothuis, also a UU graduate, on a young adult novel about the topic. “It’s about time abortion stops being a taboo subject.”

By Marjorie van Elven
April 9, 2025

Three years ago, then UU student Maya decided to stop taking the pill. “I had been taking it since I was 16 and wondered who I was without those hormones,” she recollects. One year later, she got pregnant by a guy in her class, whom she was casually dating. He didn't want to use a condom, and she didn’t use any other contraceptives, such as an IUD. She took the morning-after pill after their first sexual encounter and then got started on the birth control pill again when her period came. A little while later, she found out she was pregnant.

Continued: https://dub.uu.nl/en/depth/you-are-not-alone-abortions-are-more-common-you-think

09.04.2025

Commentary

abortion book

De Langste Één Minuut

Diet Groothuis

Marjorie van Elven

The Longest One Minute

Netherlands – ‘You are not alone, abortions are more common than you think’

By Marjorie van Elven
April 9, 2025

Continued: https://dub.uu.nl/en/depth/you-are-not-alone-abortions-are-more-common-you-think

09.04.2025

Film, Art, Books

News

De Langste Één Minuut

Diet Groothuis

Samen Naar de Kliniek

Netherlands – Many women in abortion care did not use contraceptives; Better information needed

Dec 3, 2024

Many women who got an abortion did not use contraceptives to prevent an unwanted pregnancy, Rutgers found in new research. The expertise center for sexuality is concerned about a lack of knowledge and misinformation about fertility, contraceptives, and the chance of getting pregnant.

Rutgers surveyed women aged 16 and older who had requested an abortion. 41 percent had not used contraception. “It is striking that this group is so large,” Rutgers researcher Renee Finkenflügel told NOS. “We know for sure that the women who participated in the study became pregnant unintentionally. There seems to be a lack of information and knowledge about the means to prevent this.”

Continued: https://nltimes.nl/2024/12/03/many-women-abortion-care-use-contraceptives-better-information-needed

03.12.2024

Netherlands – There Are No Stigma-Free Abortions, Even in ‘Progressive’ Countries

There are so many things you’d never know about abortions unless you go through one.

By Maud Droste, Illustrated By Djanlissa Pringels
December 8, 2023

I’m in utter disbelief, staring down at a positive result on a drugstore pregnancy test. It’s March 2020. My relationship had just ended two days before, I’d just found out my roommate and I would be evicted and, thanks to a massive bout of procrastination, I had about a month left to finish my bachelor’s thesis.

Getting pregnant was the last of a long list of life-changing events I hadn’t seen coming. My roommate, however, had. I’d been tired for weeks, the only food I craved was mango – which I inevitably threw up after eating – and I felt ambivalent about absolutely everything. “I think you should probably take a test,” she said.

Continued: https://www.vice.com/en/article/g5gay7/no-stigma-free-abortions

08.12.2023

Opinion

Abortion Buddies programme

abortion stigma

European Abortion Policies Atlas

Eva de Goeij

five-day reflection period

Humanistisch Verbond

mandatory waiting period

Safe havens? As some nations restrict access, a look at Europe’s abortion limits

19/04/2023
Joanna YORK

As US states and nations such as Poland move towards restricting access to abortions, parts of Europe are seen as something of a safe haven for those looking to terminate pregnancies. However, a look at legislation across the continent shows vast discrepancies and how – even if the procedure is often legal – access to abortion is restricted by hurdles ranging from mandatory counselling to a lack of doctors willing to perform the procedure.

More than 95% of women in Europe live in countries that allow some access to abortion. Some 39 European countries have legalised abortion on request, albeit with some restrictions. Six countries have strict limits in place although only three (Andorra, Malta and San Marino) do not allow abortion at all.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20230419-safe-havens-as-some-nations-restrict-access-a-look-at-europe-s-limits-on-abortion

This doctor says bans won’t stop her from getting abortion pills to women in the U.S.

BY LAURA KINGSTAFF
APRIL 3, 2023

AMSTERDAM — It was nearly three decades ago, as a young medical trainee in West Africa, that Rebecca Gomperts witnessed scenes that would set in motion her life’s work. Gruesome hemorrhages, perforated wombs, bloodied young women gasping out their lives: all the aftermath of botched illegal abortions.

“The methods — oh, how invasive they were,” the 57-year-old Dutch activist-physician said, shaking her head at the memory of stricken women staggering or being carried into the hospital. “Sticks. Bleach.”

Continued: https://www.latimes.com/world-nation/story/2023-04-03/dutch-doctor-telemedicine-group-abortion-pill-struggle

Netherlands – D66 wants access to abortion to become a human right

(Democrats 66 is a social liberal political party in the Netherlands)
SUNDAY, 13 NOVEMBER 2022

The D66 wants the Netherlands to promote the right to abortion internationally. Women everywhere in Europe should be able to have a safe and affordable abortion, say D66 MPs Sjoerd Sjoerdsma and Wieke Paulusma.

They believe this is possible if access to abortion is preserved as a human right in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. To this end, the D66 members are submitting an initiative memorandum to the Tweede Kamer.

Continued: https://nltimes.nl/2022/11/13/d66-wants-access-abortion-become-human-right

13.11.2022

Featured

News

Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union

‘No matter the law, no matter the stigma, no matter the cost.’ This European network helps people access abortions

Story, photographs by Kara Fox
CNN Video by Ladan Anoushfar and Louis Leeson, CNN
Wed September 28, 2022

It’s early evening in an affluent neighborhood in the Dutch city of Haarlem and bed and breakfast owners Arnoud and Marika are waiting for their next guest to arrive. They’ve prepared their single room for her, a brightly colored space with massive windows overlooking a leafy drive.

The traveller is a woman from France. She’s only staying one night, but her hosts want her to feel at home because she’s not here on vacation. She’s come to have a second-trimester abortion.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/28/europe/europe-abortion-travel-as-equals-intl-cmd

Dutch doctor says group will keep sending abortion pills to US women

Issued on: 16/05/2022

Washington (AFP) – Rebecca Gomperts, a 55-year-old Dutch physician, has spent years fighting for women's access to abortion around the world.

Made famous by her "abortion boat," as recounted in the 2014 documentary "Vessel," she and her Women on Waves group have anchored the ship in international waters off the coasts of Poland, Spain, Mexico and other countries, offering medical abortions to women otherwise unable to obtain them.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220516-dutch-doctor-says-group-will-keep-sending-abortion-pills-to-us-women