On 17 December 2025, the European Parliament voted in favor of the initiative “My Voice, My Choice: for safe and accessible abortion.
On 10 April 2024 a European Citizens’ initiative called “My Voice, My Choice: for safe and accessible abortion” was registered by the European Commission, with the goal of making women’s lives safer, freer and in general better.
The initiative asks the EU Commission to provide financial support to Member States that want to offer safe abortions to anyone in Europe who lacks access, in line with national laws, with participation being voluntary and countries opting in would receive EU funding to share the costs.
Every year a lot of lives are broken and lost because of the lack of access to safe abortion. This inability in many parts of the European Union to access abortion as essential healthcare puts women at physical risk but also creates significant economic and psychological pressure, especially for already marginalized communities; such restrictions contradict the Charter of Fundamental Rights, creating discrimination and limitations on women’s rights.
There are countries where abortion is highly restricted and punished, and only allowed if the woman’s life is at risk, such as Malta and Poland; in the latter it is also permitted in cases of sexual violence. However, in other countries where abortion is legal, healthcare professionals (gynecologists, nurses, pharmacists) can refuse to provide abortion procedures based on personal beliefs or religion, as is the case in Italy, Croatia and Romania. For example, in Romania despite abortion being legal, over eight hundred of public clinics do not offer abortion services making access very limited and forcing women to turn to expensive private clinics. In Italy, public counseling centers include pro-life associations while in Austria abortion can be very expensive and not covered by insurance.
These examples highlight the importance of the “My Voice, My Choice” initiative that reached more than one million one hundred thousand signatures and it was presented to the European Commission on 1 September 2025. On 17 December, the European Parliament voted in favor of the initiative, with 358 votes in favor, 202 against and 79 abstentions.
Even though this represents a big step, as said by rapporteur Abir Al-Sahlani: “This vote represents a great victory for all women in Europe. The EU has finally shown that sexual and reproductive health is a fundamental human right” some other steps are still required. In fact, the European Commission has until March 2026 to respond officially to the initiative, indicating whether and which measures it intends to adopt.