E.U. to weigh abortion aid scheme after successful petition

The EU said Monday it will examine a petition calling for it to facilitate safe access to abortion for all European women, after the appeal collected more than one million signatures.

Liberalized across most of the 27-nation bloc, the right to end pregnancies remains severely restricted in some countries -- notably Malta and Poland.

As a consequence, more than 20 million women in the European Union do not have access to safe abortion care, women's rights campaigners say. 

To change that, a coalition of women's rights groups last year launched "My Voice, My Choice", a campaign urging the EU to take action.

"In many countries in Europe abortion is not safe, it's not accessible, it's not free, and we want to provide every woman the possibility of having it," Federica Vinci, the campaign's coordinator for Italy, told AFP.

Rather than requiring changes in national laws, the petitioners asked Brussels to set up a financial mechanism to help liberal member states provide abortions to women from countries where it is not readily available. 

The initiative secured more than one million signatures -- the minimum threshold required to force the European Commission to address it -- last December and was officially submitted on Monday.

It is not legally binding, but the commission now has to issue a reply before March 2, 2026, outlining the actions it intends to take.

"The Commission will meet the organizers to discuss the initiative in detail in the coming weeks. A public hearing will then be organized by the European Parliament," the EU executive body said in a statement. 

Malta allows abortion only in cases where the mother's life is in danger or the fetus has no chance of survival, whereas in Poland ending a pregnancy is only permitted in cases of rape, incest or if the mother's life is in danger.