Reproductive rights are a widely debated topic worldwide. In the United States, several states have banned legal abortions entirely. As a result, many women who seek to terminate a pregnancy must travel hundreds or even thousands of kilometres to other states and pay enormous sums of money for a procedure that was once accessible. In various African countries, women often resort to unsafe abortion methods, fully aware that the procedure can be life-threatening. But Europe is different, right?
Many people might assume so — yet the reality shows otherwise. Malta currently has the strictest abortion laws in Europe, with Poland following closely behind. In both countries, abortion is almost entirely banned. In Malta, a termination is only allowed if the mother’s life is in immediate danger, and even then three doctors must give their approval. These strict regulations demonstrate how differently reproductive rights are approached across Europe.
This is because reproductive legislation remains a national matter. Every EU member state decides for itself how long and under what conditions abortion is permitted.
“There are currently more than 20 million women without access to abortion in Europe,” says Nika Vistoropski from the European Citizens’ Initiative (ECI) My Voice, My Choice. For comparison: that number equals the entire population of Turkey.
Who is “My Voice, My Choice”?
As described in our previous article, My Voice, My Choice (MVMC) is an initiative calling on the European Union to establish a standardised process for safe and legal abortion across all member states. We spoke with Nika Vistoropski about how the initiative came to life. She recounts: “Three years ago, I was living in the USA when Roe v. Wade was overturned. I witnessed firsthand what happens when rights you take for granted suddenly disappear. In Slovenia, where our campaign began, abortion is protected in the constitution — but we knew this wasn’t true for the whole of Europe. That is why we wanted to secure reproductive rights at the EU level.”
An examplepicture for the Vote in the Commission
Through extensive research, the MVMC team discovered the possibility of launching a European Citizens’ Initiative. Meeting the many organisational and legal requirements took time, but the initiative was finally published in March this year. Since then, more than 300 women’s rights organisations across Europe have supported the campaign. Within just six months, MVMC collected the required one million signatures. The remaining steps necessary to validate an ECI are explained in the audio piece below.
Now, Nika and her colleagues have officially submitted the initiative. “Part of our team even moved to Brussels and put their lives on hold,” she explains. “We are working hard to gain political support within the European institutions while we wait for the Commission’s response.” The European Commission now has until March to formulate its answer.
Another formal requirement for an ECI is that supporters from at least seven different member states must be involved. Devika Partiman, founder of Stem op een Vrouw, helped coordinate the campaign in the Netherlands and explains how this cross-border collaboration worked.
We will continue to follow the developments and keep you updated.
