European Parliament casts vote on abortion access scheme.

Photo by Manny Becerra on Unsplash.com 

On the 17th of December, the European Parliament passed a vote on guaranteeing EU-wide access to abortion. The resolution passed with 358 votes in favour, 202 against and 79 abstentions. The resolution was adopted in response to the European Citizens’ Initiative “My Voice, My Choice”, which was presented to the Commission in October. While the Parliament’s vote is a step forward, it is not decisive, as it has a mere advisory role; the final call on how to respond to the proposal is in the hands of the Commission. After this resolution, the European Commission has until March 2026 to express itself on what kind of measures, if any, it will undertake in response.

The European Citizens’ Initiative “My Voice, My Choice” was launched in 2024 and amassed over 1.2 million verified signatures across EU Member States, thus crossing the threshold needed to present a proposal to the Commission. The initiative calls for the EU to offer financial support for a voluntary mechanism through which Member States can offer safe and legal abortions to women who lack access to them in their own countries. 

This initiative is a grassroots response to the fact that many women in several EU countries still encounter legal and practical barriers in access to abortion. While various countries - the UK, the Netherlands, France -  have liberalised abortions, there are still some EU countries with near-total bans, such as Malta and Poland, or with very stringent barriers to abortion access, like Italy and Croatia. These barriers risk jeopardising not only women’s physical health, but also their economic and mental well-being. Lack of access to sexual and reproductive healthcare disproportionately affects poorer women, women who lack a safety net, or women from marginalised communities. Citizens call for a stronger EU response to the problem of access to sexual and reproductive health and rights, in the form of guaranteeing “family planning information, affordable contraception, safe and legal abortion, and maternal healthcare”. The initiative seeks to push the EU in that direction.

The initiative has been met with mixed responses from European institutions. Proponents, mostly from far-left and centre-left, highlight the scientific and political consensus on the fact that making abortions harder to obtain does not reduce the number of them, but rather it simply renders them more unsafe. This initiative thus caters towards addressing this safety problem, as well as making abortion more affordable. Critics, especially from far-right and centre-right, complain about the proposal’s potential interference with national laws and national sovereignty, and criticise it for infringing on traditional Christian values. Other critiques point out that abortion care falls outside the area of competence of the EU; however, the Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib asserted that providing financial support for States promoting health measures can fall under the EU supportive competence, as long as state sovereignty for health policy is respected. As Nika Kovač, coordinator of the citizens’ initiative, has commented, the successful vote shows how “the silent majority is on the side of reproductive rights”.

written by Alessia Milillo