Europe Continues to Advance on Abortion Rights, but Access Barriers Remain

Center for Reproductive Rights
Sep 23, 2025

GENEVA —New analysis from the Center for Reproductive Rights highlights a trend of ongoing progress on abortion law across Europe, with an increasing number of countries reforming legal frameworks to expand access and move laws into line with international human rights and public health standards. Yet despite progress, harmful barriers to care persist in many countries across the region, while a handful of outliers continue to enforce highly restrictive laws.

Published ahead of International Safe Abortion Day, Europe Abortion Laws 2025: Policies, Progress and Challenges provides a comprehensive, data-driven overview of abortion law and policy in 49 European countries. It showcases recent reforms and legislative trends, and highlights ongoing legal gaps that undermine access to care across the region.

https://reproductiverights.org/europe-continues-to-advance-on-abortion-rights-but-access-barriers-remain/

23.09.2025

Commentary

Center for Reproductive Rights

Europe Abortion Laws 2025: Policies Progress and Challenges

International Safe Abortion Day

Abortion in Europe: a right for some, a fight for millions of others

January 21, 2025
A European Perspective, European Broadcasting Union

Reproductive rights have been at the centre of political debates worldwide in recent months. As US President Donald Trump takes office following a campaign where access to abortion was a central theme, Europe too finds itself at a crossroads between liberal policies and restrictive laws.

As pro-life movements gain traction across the globe, campaigners are seeking an EU-wide guarantee to safe abortion access. From Hungary to Italy, France, Switzerland and beyond, we look at abortion rights from A European Perspective.

Continued: https://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/life-aging/abortion-in-europe-a-right-for-some-a-fight-for-millions-of-others/88749102

Olympics-host France Leads on Liberalizing Abortion

2024 is not only the year France hosts the Summer Olympics but also marks the year France became the first country to explicitly protect abortion in its constitution.

July 24, 2024
Center for Reproductive Rights

More than 15 million visitors are expected to travel to Paris for the 2024 Summer Olympics, taking place from July 26 to August 11. While these visitors are there to support their national teams, it also presents an opportunity to reflect on how their home countries compare to the host nation in terms of abortion rights and access.

In a historic milestone for reproductive rights in Europe, on March 4, 2024, France’s parliament voted overwhelmingly, by 780-72, to revise the country’s 1958 constitution to enshrine women’s “guaranteed freedom” to access abortion. President of France, Emmanuel Macron, described the decision as sending a universal message.”

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/paris-olympics-france-abortion-law/

24.07.2024

News

Center for Reproductive Rights

Emmanuel Macron

enshrining abortion rights in constitution

Polish lawmakers reject easing restrictive abortion laws

This week, conservative President Andrzej Duda warned that he would veto any bill widening abortion access, even if it is passed by legislators.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
July 12, 2024

WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — Polish lawmakers on Friday rejected a bill that would have decriminalized the act of facilitating abortions in a blow for reproductive rights and the country's new liberal government.

The draft law, seen as a precursor to easing traditionally Catholic Poland's almost total ban on abortions, was rejected by 218 legislators against and 215 in favor.

Continued: https://www.courthousenews.com/polish-lawmakers-reject-easing-restrictive-abortion-laws/

Poland’s Parliamentary Commission Recommends Decriminalization of Abortion

Center for Reproductive Rights
June 25, 2024

GENEVA – The Center for Reproductive Rights welcomes today’s landmark recommendation by a Polish parliamentary commission in favour of the decriminalization of abortion in Poland. This recommendation signals an important first step in efforts to align Poland’s abortion laws with European and international norms and ensure the health and rights of women and girls are protected.

The commission has advised the Polish parliament to fully decriminalize abortion within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and later in specific situations. The Polish parliament is expected to consider this proposal from the commission, alongside other recommendations on abortion law reform, later this year.

Continued: https://reproductiverights.org/poland-parliamentary-commission-recommends-abortion-decriminalization/

25.06.2024

News

abortion law reform

Center for Reproductive Rights

The Pain and Promise of Europe’s Abortion Laws

The continent’s abortion laws are a patchwork of progress and setbacks. And for many, accessing the right care at the right time is still a lottery.

BY GRACE BROWNE
JUN 22, 2023

ON MAY 26, 2018, Irish women spilled onto the streets to celebrate a historic win for reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. The staunchly Catholic country had overwhelmingly voted to scrap the Eighth Amendment of the Irish Constitution, under which abortion was essentially illegal—one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.

Five years on, the mood has sobered. Under the new laws, those seeking an abortion have to undergo a mandatory waiting period, adhere to strict time limits, and contend with a lack of providers. From 2019 to 2021, 775 people made use of their right to travel freely between the United Kingdom and Ireland to head to Britain to access abortion services. In 2020, despite the pandemic, nearly 200 people still traveled across the Irish Sea to get abortion care in the UK. The Abortion Support Network (ASN), a charity that helps people in Europe access abortion through telemedicine or by supporting travel, says every three days they hear from someone in Ireland looking for help.

Continued: https://www.wired.com/story/europe-abortion-laws/

Refugees return to Ukraine due to reproductive, sexual challenges

By Aleksandra Krzysztoszek | EURACTIV.pl
May 16, 2023

Ukrainian refugees are temporarily returning home to receive sexual and reproductive healthcare after finding their options limited in Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia, while others seek illegal solutions, according to a study published by the Centre for Reproductive Rights.

A study published on Tuesday, the work of nine international human rights organisations documents the alarming impact that restrictive national laws have on refugees seeking essential care and support.

Continued: https://www.euractiv.com/section/politics/news/refugees-return-to-ukraine-due-to-reproductive-sexual-challenges/

U.S. abortion restrictions absolutely do not align with European law

By Leah Hoctor
September 22, 2022

Three months after the Supreme Court’s decision to eliminate the constitutional right to abortion in the United States shocked people across Europe, Republican lawmakers have astonished Europeans again with claims that 47 of 50 European countries ban abortion after 15 weeks.

This is simply untrue — as is the claim, made by Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (R-S.C.) and other lawmakers, that by introducing a 15-week federal ban on most abortions, the United States would move into line with Europe.

Unlocked: https://wapo.st/3LAImPT (https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/09/22/europe-abortion-laws-vs-usa/)

22.09.2022

Featured

Opinion

15-week abortion ban

Center for Reproductive Rights

Leah Hoctor

Senator Lindsey Graham

Abortion in Italy is legal, but finding one is hard

Issued on: 14/06/2022

Rome (AFP) – For 40 years, gynaecologist Michele Mariano has been the only person performing abortions in Italy's conservative Molise region. He has delayed retiring twice because no one will replace him, many refusing to terminate pregnancies as conscientious objectors.

It's an extreme example, but emblematic of a wider issue in Italy, where abortion up to 90 days after conception has been legal since 1978 -- but many healthcare providers don't offer them.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220614-abortion-in-italy-is-legal-but-finding-one-is-hard

Poland’s Anti-Abortion Laws Obstruct Humanitarian Assistance to Ukrainian Pregnant Refugees and Rape Survivors

As sexual violence on children and young women is increasingly reported, pregnant women, including rape survivors, struggle to access sexual healthcare under Poland’s strict abortion laws

by Mathilde Grandjean
April 20, 2022

Since the start of the war, over 4.6 million Ukrainian refugees – 90% of whom are women and children – have fled their homes to seek sanctuary in neighbouring countries. Poland has received the highest number of displaced Ukrainians, as nearly 3 million refugees have entered the country since February. Amongst them are rape survivors and pregnant refugees in urgent need of medical help, including access to emergency contraception and abortion.

However, Poland’s near-total ban on abortion added to a lack of key sexual and reproductive health medicines and products obstruct humanitarian efforts to provide medical assistance to rape survivors and refugees who wish to terminate an unwanted pregnancy.

Continued: https://impakter.com/poland-anti-abortion-laws-obstruct-humanitarian-assistance-to-ukrainian-pregnant-refugees-and-rape-survivors/