Europe: Existing barriers to abortion access compounded by alarming attempts to roll back reproductive rights

6 November 2025
Amnesty International

European governments must act to ensure equal and universal access to abortion care in the face of ongoing restrictions and intensifying efforts to further limit access to abortion across the region, said Amnesty International in a report published today.

When rights aren’t real for all: The struggle for abortion access in Europe reveals how – despite hard won progress – harmful and dangerous obstacles continue to undermine access to abortion care. This is taking place in the context of increasingly well-resourced anti-rights groups ramping up their efforts to negatively influence policies and laws, often through the spread of fear and disinformation, aimed at further restricting access to abortion.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/11/europe-existing-barriers-to-abortion-access-compounded-by-alarming-attempts-to-roll-back-reproductive-rights/

06.11.2025

Commentary

Amnesty International

belief-based care denial

Monica Costa Riba

When rights aren’t real for all: The struggle for abortion access in Europe

Poland: End Investigation into Conduct of Doctor who Provided a Lawful Late-Term Abortion

August 28, 2025
Amnesty International

Polish authorities must end the investigation into the conduct of a doctor who provided a lawful late-term abortion and take measures to ensure her safety following physical and online attacks against her, said Amnesty International in a public statement published today.

Dr Gizela Jagielska faces possible prosecution and imprisonment of up to eight years, for lawfully providing an abortion to a woman in a hospital in Oleśnica in Southern Poland in October 2024, on the grounds that the pregnancy posed a threat to her health.

“Abortion is an integral part of comprehensive sexual and reproductive health services and as essential healthcare, it should not be treated as a crime,” said Monica Costa Riba, Amnesty International’s Senior Campaigner on Women’s Rights.

Continued; https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/poland-end-investigation-into-conduct-of-doctor-who-provided-a-lawful-late-term-abortion/

28.08.2025

Commentary

Amnesty International

Dr Gizela Jagielska

Grzegorz Braun

Monica Costa Riba

osteogenesis imperfecta

Poland: Unjust conviction of activist accused of aiding an abortion must be overturned

January 30, 2025
Amnesty International

Following today’s Court of Appeal announcement that a verdict in the appeal hearing of Justyna Wydrzyńska, a human rights defender convicted in 2023 for helping a woman in an abusive relationship access a safe abortion, will be handed down on 13 February, Monica Costa Riba, Amnesty International’s Women’s Rights Senior Campaigner, said:

“Justyna Wydrzyńska should have never been prosecuted let alone convicted and no one should be criminalized for helping pregnant people access essential health care.

Continued; https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2025/01/poland-unjust-conviction-of-activist-accused-of-aiding-an-abortion-must-be-overturned/

30.01.2025

News

Abortion Dream Team

Amnesty International

Andorra: Activist on trial for raising concerns about total abortion ban at UN meeting

December 1, 2023
Amnesty International

Abortion rights activist, Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, should have never been charged with a crime or put on trial for defending human rights, said Amnesty International, the Center for Reproductive Rights and Women’s Link ahead of her defamation trial on Monday.

Vanessa Mendoza Cortés, President of Stop Violence (Stop Violències), a civil society organisation, was charged with criminal defamation after voicing concerns about Andorra’s total abortion ban at a meeting of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to examine the country’s record on women’s rights in 2019.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/12/andorra-activist-on-trial-for-raising-concerns-about-total-abortion-ban-at-un-meeting/

Poland: Prosecuting activist accused of aiding abortion ‘sets a dangerous precedent’

January 10, 2023
Amnesty International

Charges against an activist facing up to three years in prison accused of helping a pregnant woman access abortion pills in Poland must be dropped, said Amnesty International today ahead of the resumption of her trial in Warsaw tomorrow.

In November 2021, the prosecutor charged human rights defender Justyna Wydrzyńska with “helping with an abortion” and “possession of medicines without authorization for the purpose of introducing them into the market”.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2023/01/poland-prosecuting-activist-accused-of-aiding-abortion-sets-a-dangerous-precedent/

10.01.2023

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News

Amnesty International

When will conservatives learn that banning abortion does little to address demographic decline?

October 3, 2020
Milana Nikolova

A new Slovak bill limiting access to abortion – proposed by the populist OĽaNO (Ordinary People) party MP Anna Záborská – adds to a heap of similar laws that have been proposed throughout the emerging Europe region in recent years. The bill was brought before the Slovak parliament on Tuesday, but despite a heated debate that continued until late in the evening, a final decision could not be reached and a formal vote on its adoption was postponed: for now.

The draft bill proposes doubling the amount of time a patient should wait between requesting and receiving an abortion, increasing the amount of personal data collected about the patient, and requiring a compulsory second medical opinion, along with other measures designed to make getting an abortion more difficult.

Continued: https://emerging-europe.com/after-hours/when-will-conservatives-learn-that-banning-abortion-does-little-to-address-demographic-decline/

Slovakia: Draconian restrictions on abortion would endanger the lives of women and girls

16 September 2020
Amnesty International

Lawmakers in Slovakia must reject a draconian law that would impose new barriers to abortion and endanger the health and wellbeing of women and girls, said Amnesty International, ahead of the start of a parliamentary plenary session that will debate on a new abortion bill.

If passed, the law would introduce additional barriers to women and girls seeking abortion, doubling unnecessary waiting periods, imposing new medical authorization requirements for abortion on health grounds and forcing them to state their reasons for seeking care.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2020/09/slovakia-draconian-restrictions-on-abortion-would-endanger-the-lives-of-women-and-girls/

16.09.2020

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News

abortion advertising ban

abortion law reform

Amnesty International

anti-choice restrictions

Monica Costa Riba

Slovakia National Health Information Centre

Slovakia – in sixth vote – backs abortion rights

Slovakia - in sixth vote - backs abortion rights

December 5, 2019
Molly Millar

LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Slovakia narrowly defeated a bill on Thursday that would have forced women seeking an abortion to see images of their unborn child - and hear its heartbeat - in the country’s sixth vote on reproductive rights this year.

The legislation in overwhelmingly Catholic Slovakia would have been the first of its kind in the European Union, raising fears among human rights organizations of setting a precedent in nations pursuing a conservative social agen

Continued: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-britain-women-abortion/slovakia-in-sixth-vote-backs-abortion-rights-idUSKBN1Y92FY

Slovakia set to pass law forcing women to view images of embryo or foetus before abortion

Slovakia set to pass law forcing women to view images of embryo or foetus before abortion
The country's parliament will consider the law

Jon Stone, Europe Correspondent
Nov 28, 2019

Slovakian woman seeking an abortion would be forced to view pictures of their embryo or foetus under plans for a new law being considered by the country's parliament.

The draft law, to be voted on on Friday, would also require women to listen to the "foetal heartbeat" where technically possible before they could proceed with a termination.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/slovakia-law-women-embryo-foetus-abortion-images-new-law-a9224976.html