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European Parliament pushes to facilitate access to abortion across the continent

by AI | 17.Dec 2025 | Europe in brief AI

The European Parliament urges Brussels to facilitate access to “safe” abortions for all women on the continent.

A message relating to abortion and the Constitution is projected onto the Eiffel Tower after the vote of the French Parliament enshrining the right to voluntary termination of pregnancy in the Constitution, in Paris, on March 4, 2024. (Photo: Dimitar DILKOFF / AFP)

European Parliament (Strasbourg, France) – On Wednesday, Members of the European Parliament voted on a text that calls on the Commission to “set up a mechanism” that would allow “any person residing in the Union who still does not have access to safe and legal abortion” to travel at lower cost to another one of the 27 member states that does allow such care.

The mechanism would be financed by Brussels and by member states on a voluntary basis.

Access to voluntary termination of pregnancy differs significantly from one European country to another: it is protected by the Constitution in France, but very restricted in other states. 

This is notably the case in Malta, where some women “are in a state of total distress,” Mélissa Camara, the French Green MEP, told AFP.

In Poland, a country of 38 million inhabitants that has one of the strictest laws in this area, only 896 abortions were performed in 2024, according to official figures.

This initiative was mainly supported by MEPs from left-wing and centrist groups. (17 December 2025)