By Léa Marchal
2 February 2026
Podcast – 5:26 mins with transcript
Abortion bans pushed Polish women to seek risky or costly alternatives. Now the EU faces a showdown: can a new solidarity fund guarantee safe access across borders, or will politics block women’s rights again?
EUobserver is proud to have an editorial partnership with Europod to co-publish the podcast series “Long Story Short” hosted by Léa Marchal. The podcast is available on all major platforms.
Few things stir as many controversial debates as women’s rights to their own bodies when it comes to abortion. From enshrined rights in the constitution to near total bans, the EU mirrors these divisions.
by enr with AFP, Agerpres, ANSA, BTA, dpa, EFE, Europa Press, FENA, HINA, PAP, STA
21.Oct 2025
Abortion legislation across the European Union is highly diverse, ranging from some of the world’s most liberal frameworks to some of the most strict. According to the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR) advocacy group, only 34 percent of women of reproductive age live in countries (77) where abortion is available to them. It says backstreet abortions lead to 39,000 deaths per year.
The European Parliament has called for abortion rights to be included in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, but this remains under debate and would require unanimous agreement.
Despite 15 countries having taken steps forward since 2021, only five EU countries have fully decriminalised abortion.
By Inês Trindade Pereira & Mert Can Yilmaz, Euronews
Oct 10, 2025
Sweden (94.6%), France (85.2%), and the Netherlands (80.3%) rank best in the European Union for abortion rights, according to the European Abortion Policies Atlas 2025.
The scores awarded to these countries relate to their strong legal protections that fully decriminalise abortion, wide service availability, national health coverage, government-led online information and countering misinformation.
By contrast, Malta, at 3.7%, and Poland, at 18.6%, remain at the bottom of the ranking, with abortion largely criminalised with strict penalties, and access to clinical care restricted.
Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/10/06/what-is-the-state-of-abortion-rights-across-the-eu
By Isabel Marques da Silva
28/01/2025
For more than 60 years, Europe has led a global trend towards legal access to abortion. Fears of a reversal of this trend have led to the campaign “My Choice, My Voice”, a citizens’ initiative calling for action from the European Commission.
The Commission is obliged to formally respond to the initiative's demand for a proposal to "ensure that all EU citizens, regardless of nationality or residence, have access to safe and legal abortion services", as the petition exceeded the legal threshold of 1 million signatures collected from more than seven member states, in this case 15 member states were covered.
The Citizens' Initiative “My voice, my choice,” calling for safe access to abortion in the European Union, has reached the necessary one million signatures for the EU Commission to issue a response.
By Marta Iraola Iribarren
24/12/2024
'My voice, my choice,' a citizens' initiative advocating for safe and accessible abortion in the EU, has secured 1 million signatures across the bloc and exceeded the required thresholds in 15 countries - more than double the necessary seven.
"We managed to connect the entire EU and build a network across Europe. Most importantly, we clearly demonstrated that the right to freely decide about childbirth is a shared value across Europe," said Nika Kovač, the campaign coordinator, in a press release.
Politicians express concern after openDemocracy revealed EU gave €1.2m to group spreading reproductive disinformation
Sian Norris
19 December 2024
Members of the European Parliament have demanded answers over the European Union’s funding of an anti-abortion organisation.
Earlier this year, openDemocracy revealed the EU’s Erasmus+ programme had handed €1.2m to the World Youth Alliance (WYA), a US-based charity that promotes anti-abortion disinformation.
Now, politicians from Poland, Germany, Sweden and Slovakia have urged the European Commission to “commit to reviewing and potentially halting EU funding for organisations that oppose reproductive freedom”.
Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/eu-anti-abortion-funding-questions-world-youth-alliance-erasmus/
The most contentious issue during Olivér Várhelyi's confirmation hearing was women’s health.
By Marta Iraola Iribarren & Gerardo Fortuna
Published on Nov 7, 2024
It’s not over yet for Orbán’s pick as EU Commissioner: His confirmation has been postponed as he failed to impress MEPs, slipping on reproductive and sexual rights.
Following a three-hour hearing, European lawmakers opted on Wednesday night to defer their decision on Olivér Várhelyi's nomination as EU Commissioner for health and animal Welfare, questioning his refusal to acknowledge women's health as an EU competence.
EU criticised for ‘mind-boggling’ decision to give the World Youth Alliance funding for girls’ reproductive health education
Sian Norris, OpenDemocracy
15 October 2024
AUS-based anti-abortion charity was given a €400,000 grant from the European Union to run a reproductive health and rights education project, in a decision that experts describe as “mind-boggling.”
The World Youth Alliance (WYA), which has a Brussels office, claims that abortion poses a risk to fertility and future pregnancies – claims rejected by the NHS. Its founder, Anna Halpine, has also compared abortion to “the Nazis and their campaign to dehumanise Jews”.
Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/anti-abortion-ngo-eu-funding-reproductive-health-programme/
EU hands €1.2m to charity that spreads disinformation about sexual and reproductive rights to teens and women globally
Sian Norris, Soita Khatondi Wepukhulu
3 October 2024
The European Union has given more than a million euros to a charity that peddles anti-abortion misinformation and whose founder compared reproductive rights to the Holocaust, an investigation by openDemocracy can reveal.
The US-based World Youth Alliance (WYA) – which has a European office in Brussels – is officially a “non-religious” non-governmental organisation, yet its values and teachings often echo religious conservative talking points on gender rights.
Continued: https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/eu-funding-anti-abortion-charity/
The recent European Parliament elections show what happens when far-right parties gain institutional power in governmental structures. The U.S. must take note.
6/14/2024
by ALEXANDRIA WILSON-MCDONALD
In the fall of 2023, Slovakia’s Prime Minister Robert Fico ran on a campaign promising to side with Hungary’s populist Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, who recently shut down gender studies programs in Hungary, to get rid of the so-called “genderists” in the European Union. He was referring to people who support gender equality measures and LGBTQ+ rights.
Orbán and Fico are part of what has become known as the anti-gender movement, an amalgamation of populist and right-wing politicians, religious leaders and conservative activists—from men’s rights groups to antiabortion groups—that oppose gender equality measures, including reproductive rights, sex education in schools, marriage equality for LGBTQ+ couples, trans rights and legislation to combat gender-based violence. This movement has deep ties to the conservative movement in the United States.
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