EU opens up funding to guarantee abortion rights across bloc | Abortion

EU states will be able to draw on a social fund to help citizens access safe abortions, in an announcement hailed as a “victory for women”.

The roots of Thursday’s announcement go back to a long campaign for the European Commission to create a funding mechanism that would allow women from countries where abortion is virtually banned, such as Malta and Poland, to go where it is legal.

At the heart of the My Voice, My Choice campaign was the assertion that women in all 27 member states should have equal access to legal and safe abortions.

More than 1.2 million people signed up to the initiative, forcing the commission to respond. The proposal was supported by a majority of MEPs in December.

The commission said countries could draw on funds already allocated to social services to support travel and access to abortion care. “This is revolutionary,” said Hadja Lahbib, the European Commissioner for Equality. “This decision will change lives.”

The aim was to reduce the 500,000 unsafe abortions that take place each year in Europe, she explained. “That’s half a million women at risk, half a million women traumatized, half a million women who could suffer lifelong consequences, and that’s half a million too many,” Lahbib added.

“Of course, we unfortunately live in a time where women’s bodies have become a political battleground, where rights are violated all over the world. But Europe is standing firm.”

The EU has seen an increase in support for far-right parties, many of which oppose abortion. Olivier Bault of Ordo Iuris, a Polish anti-abortion group that championed a near-total ban in 2020, told Reuters the EU announcement encroached on countries’ rights to set their own health policies.

“Using the European Social Fund, claiming that it can be used for health care purposes, is making a mockery of the national laws of Europeans,” he said.

But Nika Kovač, coordinator of the My Voice, My Choice campaign, said: “For the first time, the commission unequivocally confirms that EU funds can be used to ensure access to safe abortion care, especially for women in vulnerable situations, regardless of their origin in Europe.

“Today is a victory for women in Europe. It is not symbolic. It is a political commitment in favor of women’s rights.”

Although activists were disappointed that the commission did not allocate new financial resources, they embraced what they saw as a new path toward securing women’s rights. “Member states must now use the path that has been created,” Kovač said.

Activists said their work was far from done, noting they would continue to pressure the commission to provide additional funding dedicated to abortion. They also called on the Commission to quickly provide clear instructions to member states on how they could access the funds and to create a way for women to access the program across the bloc.

Manon Aubry, a left-wing French MEP, said: “We will fight until no woman dies in Europe because she does not have access to abortion. »