MEPs call for EU to recognise abortion as fundamental right

Today, Members of the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for abortion to be included in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. The report also denounces that some Member States still have highly restrictive laws prohibiting abortion except in strictly defined circumstances. This results in women having their SRHR denied - a form of gender based violence. The EPP and ECR put forward their own resolutions and amendments excluding all important language about the right to access to safe and legal abortions. The Greens/EFA Group has long been in the forefront in the fight to legalise abortion in all Member States as well as providing women with safe and adequate sexual and reproductive healthcare.

Alice Bah Kuhnke MEP, Greens/EFA member of the Gender Equality Committee, comments:

"The fundamental right to abortion is being restricted and undermined not only on the other side of the Atlantic but also in the EU. Denying the right to abortion is a violation of women's sexual and reproductive rights and a form of gender-based violence. It is high time that we follow France's good example and constitutionally protect abortion rights across the EU.

The Greens/EFA Group has fought for abortion rights at every opportunity, in every room. We have listened to and engaged with defenders of abortion rights from Poland and Malta to Hungary and Romania. Their testimonies are horrifying. Across Europe, women are being denied the right to control over their own bodies. Some of them are forced to pay with their lives because doctors are afraid to provide life-saving care in the form of medical abortions. This must stop."

Diana Riba I Giner MEP, Greens/EFA member of the Gender Equality Committee, comments:

"That we today were able to unite the MEPs behind clear demands to recognise the right to safe and legal abortion as a fundamental right, and to include it in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, is an extremely important signal to Member States. There is a wide range of remaining obstacles to SRHR in the EU, particularly for women and those in vulnerable situations. This situation has been aggravated by the current regression in women’s rights in some Member States. I hope that not least Poland, Malta, Italy, Slovakia and Romania are paying attention and urge the Commission and the Council to immediately act.”