By Layli Foroudi
BRUSSELS, Feb 26 (Reuters) – The European Commission said on Thursday that member states may use an existing EU social fund to terminate pregnancies free of charge for women visiting from EU nations that restrict access to safe abortions, a significant policy clarification amid divisive debates on abortion rights.
The EU’s executive body was responding to women’s rights campaign “My Voice, My Choice”, which advocated for the creation of an EU-funded instrument to assist women seeking abortion procedures abroad due to restrictive policies at home.
Countries such as Malta and Poland have near-total bans in place, while in some others, including Italy and Croatia, abortions are hard to access.
Although the Commission stopped short of endorsing a new funding mechanism, it said member states may choose to use or reallocate resources from an existing fund to ensure access to safe abortions for women.
“For the first time, the Commission confirms unequivocally that EU funds can be used to guarantee access to safe abortion care ー particularly for women in vulnerable situations, regardless of where they come from in Europe,” said Nika Kovac, coordinator for the campaign.
Supporters of the citizens’ initiative, which garnered more than a million signatures and compelled the Commission to take a position, argued that women across the 27-nation bloc should have the same access to legal, safe abortions.
CRITICISM
Critics, including some far-right political parties and conservative lawmakers, said the proposal impinged on countries’ rights to set their own health policies and went against traditional Christian values.
“Using the European Social Fund, arguing that it can be used for healthcare purposes, means making a joke of Europeans’ national laws,” said Oliver Bault, director of communications at Ordo Iuris, a Polish anti-abortion legal advocacy group that championed Poland’s near‑blanket ban on abortions in 2020.
“The purpose of this initiative and of the Commission is to use the European Social Fund to finance an EU-wide abortion tourism scheme,” Bault added.
While the trend in Europe has been towards more accessibility for abortions, with the UK decriminalising abortion in 2025 and France making it a constitutional right in 2024, the continent has witnessed a surge in popular support for far-right parties, many of which oppose abortion.
This is the 12th European Citizens’ Initiative that the Commission has responded to since the mechanism was launched in 2012. Previous initiatives have not been fully adopted, which has led to criticism of the mechanism’s effectiveness.
When an initiative gathers a million signatures of support, the Commission must issue a formal written response.
(Reporting by Layli Foroudi, additional reporting by Paul Carten in Berlin, Anna Koper in Warsaw,Sudip Kar-Gupta and Amina Ismail in Brussels; Editing by Andrei Khalip and Gareth Jones )
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