Going abroad to get an abortion, a struggle for thousands of women in Europe

“Exporting Abortion”, a transnational investigation, reveals that more than 5,000 women in Europe have to travel abroad each year to access abortion services due to obstacles they face in exercising this right in their home country.

20 May 2025
Francesca Barca, Translated by Ciarán Lawless

On 24 April of this year the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) My Voice, My Choice came to a close. The initiative attracted around 1.2 million signatures: a remarkable success for an ECI – a mechanism that calls the European Commission to propose a legal act in an area where the member countries delegated powers to the EU, provided it collects enough signatures. The campaign demanded a financing mechanism to guarantee safe abortion care for all those without access to such services.

Current laws and practices, it seems, are far removed from what civil society knows to be the reality.

Continued: https://voxeurop.eu/en/abortion-abroad-struggle-women-europe/

Around 240 Irish women still travel to the UK every year for abortions

April 7, 2025

At least 5,860 European women crossed borders for abortions in 2023. This includes Ireland, even after the repeal of the Eighth Amendment in 2018.

The Journal Investigates latest report showed that women still come across bureaucratic hurdles that force them to travel. Its editor, Maria Delaney, said Irish women continue to travel to Britain for abortions.

Continued: https://www.newstalk.com/news/around-240-irish-women-still-travel-to-the-uk-every-year-for-abortions-2152245

07.04.2025

News

Eighth Amendment

Maria Delaney

travelling for abortion

travelling to England

Europe

Ireland

Over 5,000 women in Europe have to travel abroad for abortions each year

Legal, bureaucratic and social obstacles are still faced by women, even if they live in countries where abortion is legalised.

7 Apr 2025

THOUSANDS OF WOMEN have to travel to neighbouring countries in Europe to access abortion care due to barriers faced at home.

A cross-border investigation, Exporting Abortion, exposes this stark statistic for the first time, following an extensive examination of data and personal testimonies across Europe.

Our analysis found that more than 5,000 women travel from their home countries every year due to the difficulties they face in accessing abortion care. In 2023, that number was at least 5,860.

Continued: https://www.thejournal.ie/investigates-exporting-abortion-europe-6666436-Apr2025/

By bus, car and plane, women journey across Latin America for abortions

By Marina Dias and Terrence McCoy
February 23, 2024

SÃO PAULO, Brazil — She’d taken an overnight bus from the countryside, then a train across the urban sprawl of São Paulo, and now she was staring out the plane window, head full of worry. There was a pink rosary in her pocket. But she didn’t see the point of praying. She feared she was a sinner, a criminal, and this trip, her first time out of Brazil, would be a secret she’d carry for the rest of her life.

Cristina was 35 years old. She was 11 weeks pregnant. She came from a conservative Christian family in a conservative Christian nation where abortion was largely illegal, so she’d decided to travel to a country where it was not and bring an end to the pregnancy she didn’t want.

Continued: https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/23/brazil-latin-america-abortion-restrictions/

Dozens of Hungarian women travel to Austria for abortions every week, amid tightening laws

Abortions are legal in Hungary but humiliating treatment and waiting lists prompt women to terminate their pregnancies outside of the country, women and experts told Euronews. Their main destination is Austria.

By Lili Rutai
16/08/2023

“I was sure I didn’t want to go through this procedure in Hungary,” Adri, 32, who asked to be identified only by her first name, says. She lives in an agglomeration of Budapest, works as a life coach and raises her son alone. She got pregnant again, two years ago, and decided to get an abortion.

Surgical abortions are legal until the 12th week in Hungary but women are required to attend two mandatory meetings with a state service. The first one is to inform them of other opportunities, including adoption, Réka Lebedi, a lawyer at Hungarian Civil Liberties Union (TASZ), a human rights NGO, explained. The second’s purpose is to inform them of the dangers of the surgery.

Continued: https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/08/16/dozens-of-hungarian-women-travel-to-austria-for-abortions-every-week-amid-tightening-laws

‘I had to go to England for my abortion because Scotland told me no’

Since 2019, almost 300 women have travelled to England to receive healthcare they were unable to access in Scotland.

Hannah Brown
July 21, 2023

The number of women travelling from Scotland to England to receive later abortion care has increased by 55% in the past year, new figures show.

In 2021, the number of women travelling to England was 42 but in 2022, new figures from the British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS), seen exclusively by STV News, show this increased to 65.

Since 2019, 282 women have travelled from Scotland to England to attain the service.

Continued: https://news.stv.tv/scotland/hundreds-of-women-forced-to-travel-from-scotland-to-england-for-abortion-care

UK facing crisis point in abortion provision, experts say

Women said to be travelling hundreds of miles for appointments or waiting several weeks

Lucy Hough and Hannah Moore
Thu 26 Jan 2023

The UK is facing a “crisis point” in abortion provision, experts say, with rising demand and restricted access to care in many areas putting unprecedented pressure on struggling NHS services.

Healthcare professionals described a “terrifying” state of affairs in which women are travelling hundreds of miles for appointments or waiting several weeks before they are seen.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/jan/26/uk-facing-crisis-point-in-abortion-provision-experts-say

26.01.2023

Featured

News

Bpas

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Clare Murphy

Jonathan Lord

MSI Reproductive Choices

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

Tracey Masters

travelling for abortion

Europe

United Kingdom

Health

‘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

Ireland’s Struggle for Abortion Rights Should Be an Inspiration for the US

Ireland’s Struggle for Abortion Rights Should Be an Inspiration for the US

BY SINÉAD KENNEDY
Aug 22, 2022

Irish pro-choice activists had to overcome a rigid constitutional ban on abortion that was in place for more than 30 years. They succeeded by putting mass mobilization and a confident assertion of the right to choose at the heart of their campaign.

In May 2018, the Irish electorate voted by a two-to-one majority to remove or “repeal” the prohibition on abortion, known as the Eighth Amendment, from the country’s constitution. While opinion polls had suggested that pro-choice campaigners would win, most predicted a nerve-rackingly close result; certainly no one anticipated the sheer scale of the victory and the support for abortion access found across every section of society, from young to old, urban to rural.

Continued: https://jacobin.com/2022/08/ireland-abortion-rights-repeal-campaign-us-roe

Poland’s ban on abortion forces many to seek help in Germany

A Berlin-based activist group seeks to aid the rising number of women seeking help with abortion in Poland.

By Gouri Sharma
Published On 8 Aug 2022

For Zuzu*, an activist with the Berlin-based group Ciocia Basia that assists people seeking an abortion in neighbouring Poland, fielding calls is just one of many responsibilities she carries out.

Following Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, Zuzu and other activists working with partner organisation Abortion Without Borders (AWB) told Al Jazeera that the number of calls they are receiving has increased.

Continued: https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2022/8/8/polands-ban-on-abortion-forces-many-to-seek-help-in-germany