{"id":439450,"date":"2025-11-05T18:22:16","date_gmt":"2025-11-05T17:22:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2025\/11\/05\/aborto-libero-e-sicuro-primo-via-libera-alleurocamera-per-la-campagna-my-voice-my-choice\/"},"modified":"2025-11-05T19:12:53","modified_gmt":"2025-11-05T18:12:53","slug":"free-safe-abortion-first-european-parliaments-green-light-for-my-voice-my-choice-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2025\/11\/05\/free-safe-abortion-first-european-parliaments-green-light-for-my-voice-my-choice-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"Free, safe abortion: first European Parliament’s green light for “My voice, my choice” campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels – One step closer to free and safe access to abortion in the EU<\/strong>. The EU Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights and Gender Equality (FEMM<\/strong>) adopted today (5 November) a draft resolution<\/strong> to be submitted to the plenary of the hemicycle and an oral question<\/strong> addressed to the EU executive, as requested by the transnational campaign<\/a> “My Voice, My Choice<\/strong>“. <\/p>\n

With today’s vote (26 in favour, 12 against and no abstentions), MEPs gave the first formal green light<\/strong> to the popular initiative signed by over 1.2 million citizens<\/strong> of the Union (the minimum legal threshold for a bottom-up proposal to reach the Berlaymont is 1 million signatures), exceeded by this campaign last September<\/a>) which asks the European Commission to guarantee the voluntary interruption of pregnancy (VIP)<\/strong>, whereas in some member states this right is in fact denied<\/strong>. <\/p>\n

The draft resolution\u2014to be voted on by the chamber at a forthcoming plenary session in Strasbourg\u2014is based on the consideration that many women in the Twenty-Seven still lack full access<\/strong> to safe and legal abortion, given the many legal and practical obstacles<\/strong> that remain in many contexts. The FEMM commission’s call to chancelleries is to reform their domestic laws<\/strong> to bring them in line with international human rights standards, as well as to improve the quality and dissemination of information<\/strong> on sexual and reproductive rights, family planning, contraception, abortion, and maternal health care (with support from Brussels).\n<\/p>\n

\n

Thank you, thank you, thank you pic.twitter.com\/LpQHwCDDP5<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 My Voice My Choice (@MVMC_24) November 5, 2025<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

At the same time, the MPs expressed “deep concern” about the growing backlash against women’s rights and gender equality<\/strong> all over the world, including very civilised Europe, and “strongly condemned” anti-gender movements that seek to minimise equality and human rights<\/strong>. Very good timing, considering that these days<\/a> the Latvian case<\/strong> broke out (again): the Parliament in Riga first voted to withdraw the Baltic Republic from the Istanbul Convention against Violence against Women<\/strong> and then, following pressure from public opinion and the head of state,
\nbacktracked<\/a>,  postponing the issue until November 2026. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

In line with the demands of the campaigners, the MEPs also urge the Berlaymont to set up, on a voluntary basis, an optional financial mechanism<\/strong> open to all Twenty-Seven <\/span>to “guarantee solidarity<\/strong>.” These funds, which the EU would provide, should allow member states to make VIP concretely accessible to women who are still unable to take advantage of it, even across borders<\/strong> (i.e., allowing abortion in a country other than one’s own<\/strong>, if in the latter such a possibility is de facto<\/em> precluded). In the oral question to the Commission, the chamber<\/span> will ask for details of the roadmap<\/strong> it intends to follow <\/span>to implement the initiative. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

FEMM’s rapporteur, Swedish liberal Abir Al-Sahlani<\/strong>, stated that “no woman should be forced to leave her country to exercise her human rights,” recalling that “sexual and reproductive health care is a fundamental human right<\/strong>” to be guaranteed not only on paper but also in practice. “This initiative,” she added, “shows what is possible when citizens and institutions join forces to promote equality<\/strong> and democracy”.<\/p>\n

\"Benedetta<\/a>
MEP Benedetta Scuderi (photo: Philippe Stirnweiss\/European Parliament)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

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Benedetta Scuderi<\/strong>, a FEMM member on the AVS quota, claims that “sexual and reproductive rights are not a matter of national borders<\/strong>, but universal human rights,” lamenting that “in too many European countries, women and people with the capacity to manage a pregnancy are still forced to travel, to hide, to suffer institutional violence just to be able to decide on their own bodies<\/strong>.” Europe, she argues, must “ensure that freedom of choice is real, not a geographical or economic privilege<\/strong>.” <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The M5S MEP Carolina Morace<\/strong>, another FEMM member, specifically welcomes the introduction of “a European fund to allow women to safely<\/strong> and legally abort in another European country<\/strong> if this right is not guaranteed in their own<\/strong>.” <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

For the promoters of the initiative, today’s result is a success to be celebrated without resting on their laurels<\/strong>, since the real turning point will be the vote in plenary. “We will have to convince more than half of the MEPs,” explained My voice, my choice<\/em> coordinator Nika Kova\u010d<\/strong>. “It will be very hard,” she commented, promising, however, that “<\/span>we will continue to fight until the end<\/strong>.<\/span>“<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Green light in the Femm committee to the popular initiative that has collected more than 1.2 million signatures across the EU. The next steps will be a vote in plenary and a question to the EU executive. Promoters: “We will fight until the end”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7876,"featured_media":439426,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29788],"tags":[32546,28288,30218,29362,27283,32547,27286],"class_list":["post-439450","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diritti-en","tag-abir-al-sahlani","tag-benedetta-scuderi-en","tag-carolina-morace-en","tag-initiative-citizens-en","tag-aborto-legale-en","tag-my-voice-my-choice","tag-right-to-abortion-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439450","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7876"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=439450"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439450\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":439451,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/439450\/revisions\/439451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/439426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=439450"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=439450"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=439450"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}