EU expands funds for abortion access in response to a citizens’ campaign
BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union said Thursday it will back efforts to financially support women seeking access to abortion, following a multi-year campaign by more than a million citizens in the 27-nation bloc to expand support for women in countries with conservative laws.
The EU’s 147 billion euro European Social Funds Plus can be used by EU countries to treat and cover the cost of abortions for women regardless of where in the bloc they come from, European Equality Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said on Thursday.
“Approximately half a million unsafe abortions are performed in Europe every year,” Lahbib said. “Security and freedom should never depend on your zip code or income.”
He praised the My Voice, My Choice campaign, saying organizers brought in boxes full of letters from women on the block.
The initiative called on the EU to establish a separate fund to enable women to travel outside their own countries to secure safe abortions. Although the commission did not do so, organizers said the decision achieved its goals by other means.
“Although no new legal document has been created, the Commission has officially recognized that the main objectives of our initiative can be achieved and has identified a concrete way to implement this in practice,” said Nika Kovač, coordinator of the My Voice, My Choice initiative. “This is not symbolic. It is a political commitment to women’s rights.”
“This establishes beyond doubt that access to safe abortion is a matter of public health and social justice,” Kovač said. he said. “For the first time, the Commission has conclusively confirmed that EU funds can be used to guarantee access to safe abortion care for particularly vulnerable women, regardless of where they come from in Europe.”
Abortion is legal in most of Europe. For example, France included the right to abortion in its constitution in 2024. But abortion Tight restrictions in PolandAccording to the European Parliament Forum on Sexual and Reproductive Rights, Malta, Liechtenstein and Monaco.
The Commission was encouraged to take a position on this initiative by a unique EU protocol called the European Citizens’ Initiative. Public petitions launched through an official website need to receive more than a million signatures spread across the bloc before formal negotiations can begin by the EU executive in Brussels.
European MPs voted 358 to 202 in favor of the fund in December, with 79 abstentions, after campaigners secured more than a million votes from 2024.
Opponents of the initiative said it would impose the view of the EU majority on nations choosing more conservative laws.
“How can I explain to my people, the Maltese, that we are overturning their decision here?” Maltese MP Peter Agius said during a debate on the initiative in the European Parliament in December. He votes in the European People’s Party, the same political coalition as European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
“Today is a good day for women’s rights in Europe,” Kovač said. “Today we won, today we will celebrate and tomorrow we will start working harder.”
