Being pregnant: for some Women the best thing in the world. But what if the pregnancy is not wanted – the child doesn’t fit in the life, it was an accident or it is the result of a rape. Deciding to abort a child is mostly not an easy decision. Being forced to keep it, to travel across the country or take a loan to have an abortion is obstacle and for 20 million women the reality in some European countries.
The movement “My Voice, my Choice” was founded by nine different women rights movements throughout Europe. Together they started an initiative that everyone has access to safe and affordable Abortion in the European Union. Their petition, reached over a million signatures which means that the European Commission must decide which actions they are taking.
The Chaos of different Laws and unpunishable abortions
Two lines: pregnant – but you hoped that there will only be one line
Every European country has different laws whether you can or cannot abort. Wendy Guns is specialized in women’s international human rights and reproductive rights, she says: “For example the Netherlands scores high on accessibility, but not for women who are undocumented. But one could argue that art. 296 Sr needs to change. Belgium removed abortion from its criminal code, but the term limit is 12 weeks. So, no system is perfect, but I think in terms of abortion accessibility the Netherlands does very well.” If you are a Dutch citizen with a health insurance, it’s free to have an abortion. The last amendment to the law was in 2023. Since then, you don’t have a mandatory time of five days to think about your decision. They also have one of the longest periods of time in which span you can have an abortion.
Article 296 Sr makes the abortion unpunishable if it’s carried out by a physician in a hospital or a clinic that is authorised to perform the treatments or a general practitioner who provides medical termination of pregnancy pursuant to that act. In fact, abortion is still a crime it still is in the criminal code of the Netherlands. Germany and other countries having a similar law to the one in the Netherlands, but the weeks differ from country to country.
According to Guns countries who are acting poorly in the right for abortion are Poland, Hungary and Malta. Those Countries are having very strict laws. Poland only allows the procedure if the women got raped or the pregnancy is a result of incest. Malta on the other hand only allows the abortion if the pregnancy is life-threatening to the mother.
Safety-risk: Abortion without medical knowledge
But what makes an abortion unsafe? The WHO (World Health Organization) quotes:” An “unsafe abortion” is defined as a procedure for terminating a pregnancy performed by persons lacking the necessary information or skills or in an environment not in conformity with minimal medical standards, or both” Doing a abortion by yourself without medical knowledge can cause, heavy bleeding, a incomplete abortion, infections and damage to the uterus or the genital tract.
To prevent this, “My Voice, my Choice” want the EU Commission to talk about making it accessible to every woman, no one must be scared that they don’t survive the procedure, must travel in another country or doesn’t have the money for it. “We are demanding that the EU passes legislation that would create a financial mechanism that helps Member States that voluntarily join this policy to provide safe abortion care for all those who don’t have access to it.”
The Commission has time until March to react to the demands.
