EP committee on women's rights approves measures for better access to abortion in EU

The European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM) has approved a resolution supporting measures to improve access to abortion across the EU. 

This follows the European Citizens’ Initiative “My Voice My Choice: For Safe and Accessible Abortion.”

Over 1.2 million Europeans signed the initiative, urging EU institutions to safeguard what organisers describe as a fundamental personal freedom.

In its resolution, FEMM calls on the European Commission to create a voluntary, opt-in financial mechanism allowing Member States that choose to participate to provide abortion services for people unable to access them in their home country. 

The committee also urged that the mechanism be included in both the current and future Multiannual Financial Framework.

The Renew Europe group, which led the work on the resolution, described the proposal as a “practical expression of European solidarity.” The centrist political group said the mechanism would help Member States that already provide abortion to offset costs for non-residents and ensure equitable access to reproductive healthcare across the bloc.

The resolution also repeats the European Parliament’s call to include abortion as a right in the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union.

The resolution will be voted on during the November or December plenary session in Strasbourg.