Across Europe, conservative and far-right forces are attacking life, freedom, and women themselves. In Poland and Hungary, abortion is almost impossible to access. Elsewhere, though legal on paper, endless barriers turn a fundamental right into an obstacle course. A safe and routine medical procedure has become a nightmare. Criminalisation and restriction push people into secrecy, forcing them to risk their health and their lives. Every injury and every death from unsafe abortion is not fate. It is the result of political choices.
The European Union has failed to act. Under President Ursula von der Leyen, the Commission remains silent, even as the Parliament has called for abortion rights to be written into the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Meanwhile, over 1.2 million citizens have already spoken through the My Voice, My Choice petition: abortion must be safe, legal, and accessible everywhere in Europe.
On International Safe Abortion Day and every day, The Left declares: abortion rights are non-negotiable. No law, no regime, no stigma shall decide our futures. Reproductive rights are human rights, and they cannot be ignored. We demand safe, accessible abortion care for everyone who needs it. Now!
That is why the Left calls for:
- Abortion Rights in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights: Abortion is a fundamental right based on bodily autonomy. Where abortion is legal and accessible, it is one of the safest medical procedures and where restricted, people are pushed into secrecy, suffering, and danger. The choice is not between abortion and no abortion. It is between safe abortions and unsafe abortions. The EU must act: abortion rights belong in the Charter of Fundamental Rights.
- Safe and Accessible Abortions for All: Legal on paper is not enough. Waiting periods, spousal consent, lack of providers, high costs, long travel are some of many barriers denying real access. Abortion must be safe, affordable, and available everywhere, not just for the privileged few. Equality means universal access.
- Reproductive Justice: Reproductive freedom requires more than the right to end a pregnancy. Coined by black and intersectional activists, it means the resources to decide if, when, and how to have children, and to raise them in safety and dignity. That means housing, fair pay, healthcare, childcare, and freedom from violence. Justice in life makes freedom in reproduction real.
The Left will not allow the European Union to retreat on reproductive rights. The Commission must not stand by while governments in Hungary and Poland strip people of their freedoms. Abortion is a matter of health, dignity, and human rights. No progressive force can endorse a Commission that refuses to guarantee reproductive freedom. Without it, there can be no gender equality, no rule of law worthy of the name, and no democracy that is truly free.
