There is no dedicated fund of its own, but the European Commission has pledged support for the My Voice My Choice initiative. The citizens’ initiative collected over 1.2 million signatures advocating for safe access to abortions across the EU. In December, the European Parliament decided to back the demand.
Member states should receive financial resources to ensure safe abortion care for all. But at the end of February the EC decided not to provide extra funds. Member states may use funds from existing social funds for this purpose. For the initiators of My Voice My Choice, that is already a success.
France, Sweden and the Netherlands have the most liberal abortion laws in the EU. In Germany, abortion is illegal, but under certain conditions in the first three months it is not punishable. Especially Poland and Malta have very restrictive abortion rules. My Voice My Choice does not want to put up with this any longer – as part of an international network of initiatives.
From Treatments on the Open Sea …
Globally, according to UNFPA, about half of all roughly 240 million pregnancies are unintended. More than 60 percent of unintended pregnancies end in abortion, and an estimated 45 percent of all abortions are unsafe. In these procedures, between 30,000 and 40,000 pregnant people die each year. In the 27 EU countries, about 20 million people do not have access to safe abortions.
For International Women’s Day on March 8, the weekly wochen becomes feminis. While rights of women, trans, inter and non-binary people are being attacked and rolled back worldwide, the issue asks what can help against powerlessness and bewilderment. Our answer: solidarity. On 52 pages, feminis shows how solidarity is lived both on a large and on a small scale. The topic will also be covered on .de for four days. You can read the full editorial here.
Here the networks of solidarity come into play. Alongside My Voice My Choice, for example the organization Women on Waves. The group was founded in 1999 by Dutch physician Rebecca Gomperts. In the beginning – hence the name – Women on Waves enabled abortions on the open sea. People from countries where abortions were illegal were treated on international waters. For aboard the Dutch ship, Dutch law applied, which allowed abortions.
Until its end in 2017, the ship voyages served not only as practical help, but also as high-profile actions to bring the topic into the media and to pressure governments. “We always look at which measures can bring about the biggest changes,” Gomperts tells .
Because Women on Waves primarily sees itself as an advocacy group, it tries to influence political decisions. For example against the restrictive abortion regulations that have entered the USA since Donald Trump’s first term. In June 2022, the Supreme Court—dominated by conservatives thanks to Trump—overturned the 50-year-old landmark Roe v. Wade decision. The 1973 ruling had until then secured the right to abortions across the United States, roughly until the 24th week of gestation. The overturning of Roe v. Wade means that individual U.S. states can restrict or even ban abortions.
… Up to Research and Online Distribution
Since 2018, Women on Waves has also focused on research. The aim is, for example, to show that the abortion pill mifepristone can also be used as a contraceptive. Unlike the pill, mifepristone does not need to be taken continuously; the drug does not interfere with the hormonal balance. A crowdfunding campaign to fund clinical trials is currently running on the GoFundMe platform. “Maybe,” it says there, “it will be women — and those who love them — who bring about the change — not pharmaceutical companies.”
Even if enough money is raised, even if the tests yield the hoped-for result, non-state support for abortions is likely to be needed in the future—as long as conservative parliaments and governments dominate.
Support like that provided by the online organization Women on Web, based in Canada. Or the Polish-German initiative Ciocia Basia based in Berlin. Ciocia Basia means in German roughly “Aunt Barbara,” and the organization primarily targets people in Poland. The “intersectional feminist collective,” as it calls itself, connects unwanted pregnant people with doctors in Germany. “We share the conviction that every pregnant person should have the right to self-determination. Therefore we help all people, regardless of their views and beliefs,” the group writes on its website.
The service of Women on Web works quite simply: in one of 14 languages, you click on the “order abortion pill” button on the organization’s website and are guided through a consultation form. After providing the address, the medication is mailed. Women on Web reports having shipped the abortion pill to over 165,000 people.
Rebecca Gomperts, who also founded Women on Web and was named by Time Magazine as one of the 100 most influential people of the year 2020, tells : “Civil society will always be needed to advance human rights and to protect the rights we have won.”
After the EU Commission’s equivocal stance on additional funds for a safe access to abortions across the EU, this matters even more.
In the current episode of ’s podcast “Fernverbindung,” editor Anastasia Zejneli talks with correspondent Katharina Wojczenko about feminist struggles in Colombia.
Here’s the podcast.
