Skip to content
Center for Reproductive Rights
Center for Reproductive Rights

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Pro Bono Program
    • Creative Council
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact Us
    • Careers
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • What if Roe Fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
    • Global Advocacy
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Events
    • Press Releases
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • What if Roe Fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map
    • Take Action Toolkit
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Make a Gift Now
    • Be a Champion
    • Join the Advocates Council
    • Become a Major Donor
    • Give Through Your Donor-Advised Fund
    • Make a Gift In Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Leave a Legacy
    • More Ways to Give
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn
Donate
icon-hamburger icon-magnifying-glass Donate
icon-magnifying-glass-teal
Center for Reproductive Rights - Center for Reproductive Rights - search logo
search Close Close icon
Center for Reproductive Rights -
Menu Close Menu Close icon
Donate

Primary Menu

  • About
    • Overview
    • Center Leadership & Staff
    • Pro Bono Program
    • Creative Council
    • Annual Reports
    • Contact Us
    • Careers
    • Diversity, Equity and Inclusion
  • Work
    • Overview
    • Litigation
    • Legal Policy and Advocacy
    • Resources & Research
    • Recent Case Highlights
    • Landmark Cases
    • World’s Abortion Laws Map
    • What if Roe Fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map
  • Issues
    • Overview
    • Abortion
    • Adolescent Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
    • Assisted Reproduction
    • Contraception
    • Humanitarian Settings
    • Maternal Health
    • COVID-19
  • Regions
    • Overview
    • Africa
    • Asia
    • Europe
    • Latin America and the Caribbean
    • United States
    • Global Advocacy
  • News
    • Latest News
    • Center in the Spotlight
    • Events
    • Press Releases
    • Press Room
    • Newsletters
  • Resources
    • Resources & Research
    • World Abortion Laws Map
    • What if Roe Fell? U.S. Abortion Laws Map
    • Take Action Toolkit
  • Act
    • Overview
    • Give
    • Act
    • Learn
  • Donate
    • Make a Gift Now
    • Be a Champion
    • Join the Advocates Council
    • Become a Major Donor
    • Give Through Your Donor-Advised Fund
    • Make a Gift In Honor
    • Attend an Event
    • Leave a Legacy
    • More Ways to Give
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Related Content

Issues:

Abortion

Regions:

Europe

Work:

Reporting on Rights

Type:

News, Press Releases

Follow the Center

Donate Now

Join Now

  • Hidden

11.27.2019

Reporting on Rights Abortion Europe News

Center for Reproductive Rights Releases New Brief of European Abortion Laws

Justin Goldberg

Share this Story

  • facebook
  • Twitter
  • linkedin
  • Email id
Europe leads the world with its number of liberalized laws on abortion, but many women still face access barriers due to regulatory restrictions or regressive threats

(PRESS RELEASE) –A new comparative overview of European abortion laws, released today by the Center for Reproductive Rights, reveals that more than 95% of women of reproductive age currently live in countries where laws allow abortion either on request or on broad social grounds.



This impressive statistic nevertheless masks the fact that some of these countries maintain restrictive pre-conditions, such as mandatory counselling or enforced waiting periods, that can impede or delay women accessing services. In addition, abortion is still outlawed or extremely restricted in six countries in the region.



The report, European Abortion Laws: A Comparative Overview, outlines that the trend is squarely towards positive and progressive liberalizing reform in the European region, such as the recent legalization of abortion on request in Cyprus, Ireland and Iceland. It also warns, however, that the region remains at considerable risk of attempts to rollback abortion rights, such as current proposals before the Slovakian parliament that would introduce extreme mandatory requirements prior to abortion that are contrary to international human rights principles and law. 



The new report reveals that, currently, across the European region:




  • Thirty-nine countries (ranging right across the continent, from Portugal and Spain in the West to Turkey and the Russian Federation in the East) have legalized abortion on request (i.e where abortion is legal without the need for a medical practitioner or other authority to certify a particular reason for the abortion)

  • Two countries (Finland and the United Kingdom) have legalized abortion on broad social grounds

  • Six countries retain highly restrictive abortion laws – Andorra, Malta and San Marino do not allow abortion in any circumstances; Liechtenstein allows abortion only when a woman’s life or health is at risk, or where the pregnancy resulted from sexual assault; Monaco and Poland allow abortion only when a woman’s life or health is at risk, following a sexual assault, or where a severe foetal anomaly has been detected



Some countries have set time limits on abortion on request at between 18-24 weeks of pregnancy, while others set these limits around the end of the first trimester of pregnancy. All of these countries’ laws allow access later in pregnancy in specific circumstances, such as where a woman’s health or life is at risk, and here the standard practice is not to impose any time limitation at all.



Despite having legalized abortion, some European countries have maintained a range of procedural rules and regulations that can impede and delay women’s access to abortion care.  These include:




  • mandatory waiting periods between the date on which an abortion is first requested and the date on which it may take place;

  • laws compelling women to undergo counselling, which can sometimes be required to be biased or directive;

  • short rigid time limits for accessing abortion that may disproportionately affect certain groups of women; and

  • criminalising women or medical professionals who act outside of the legal framework for abortion provision



Although the general trend in Europe has been towards increasing liberalization and removing barriers to access, in recent years some countries in Europe have attempted to roll back existing legal protections for women’s access to abortion care. Initiatives have ranged from attempts to introduce regressive pre-conditions before abortions can take place, such as mandatory biased counselling, or waiting periods, to attempts to fully ban abortion or remove existing legal grounds for abortion.



“Women in Europe have fought long and hard for legal entitlements to access abortion care,” said Leah Hector, Regional Director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights.



“As recent events in Poland and Slovakia demonstrate, rights to access abortion may be arbitrarily threatened by attempts to introduce new barriers or scale back on the legality of abortion care, and we must be ever vigilant.



“Comparative reports like this one help to capture the current status of abortion law and practice across the region, and provide advocates and policy makers with information on where and how their efforts should be focused moving forward. There is much progress still to be made if Europe is to achieve the promise of gender equality.”



To download a copy of European Abortion Laws: A Comparative Overview go to: reproductiverights.org…


Related Posts

Addressing Medical Professionals’ Refusals to Provide Abortion Care on Grounds of Conscience or Religion

In many European countries where abortion is legal, domestic laws and regulations allow medical professionals to refuse to provide abortion...

Abortion, Other Barriers,Europe, Accountability Bodies, European Human Rights System,Reporting on Rights
Addressing Medical Professionals’ Refusals to Provide Abortion Care on Grounds of Conscience or Religion

Center Submission regarding Constitutionality of Croatia’s Act on Health Measures for the Realization of the Right to Freely Decide on the Childbirth

Abortion, Legal Protections, Legal Restrictions, HIV/AIDS, Discriminatory Policies,Europe, Croatia,At the United Nations, Reporting on Rights

Abandoned and Stigmatized: The Impact of the Irish Abortion Law on Women

           

Abortion, Legal Restrictions,Europe, Ireland, Accountability Bodies, United Nations,In the Courts, At the United Nations, Engaging Policymakers, Around the World, Reporting on Rights
Abandoned and Stigmatized: The Impact of the Irish Abortion Law on Women

Sign up for our newsletter.

The most up-to-date news on reproductive rights, delivered straight to you.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Footer Menu

  • Careers
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

Center for Reproductive Rights
© (1992-2021)

Use of this site signifies agreement with our disclaimer and privacy policy.

Center for Reproductive Rights
This site uses necessary, analytics and social media cookies to improve your experience and deliver targeted advertising. Click "Options" or click here to learn more and customize your cookie settings, otherwise please click "Accept" to proceed.
OPTIONSACCEPT
Manage consent

Privacy Overview

This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary
Always Enabled
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. This category only includes cookies that ensures basic functionalities and security features of the website. These cookies do not store any personal information.
Functional
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytics
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
CookieDurationDescription
_ga2 yearsThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to calculate visitor, session, campaign data and keep track of site usage for the site's analytics report. The cookies store information anonymously and assign a randomly generated number to identify unique visitors.
_gat_UA-6619340-11 minuteNo description
_gid1 dayThis cookie is installed by Google Analytics. The cookie is used to store information of how visitors use a website and helps in creating an analytics report of how the wbsite is doing. The data collected including the number visitors, the source where they have come from, and the pages viisted in an anonymous form.
_parsely_session30 minutesThis cookie is used to track the behavior of a user within the current session.
HotJar: _hjAbsoluteSessionInProgress30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjFirstSeen30 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjid1 yearThis cookie is set by Hotjar. This cookie is set when the customer first lands on a page with the Hotjar script. It is used to persist the random user ID, unique to that site on the browser. This ensures that behavior in subsequent visits to the same site will be attributed to the same user ID.
HotJar: _hjIncludedInPageviewSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjIncludedInSessionSample2 minutesNo description
HotJar: _hjTLDTestsessionNo description
SSCVER1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for online advertising by creating user profile based on their preferences.
Advertisement
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
CookieDurationDescription
_fbp3 monthsThis cookie is set by Facebook to deliver advertisement when they are on Facebook or a digital platform powered by Facebook advertising after visiting this website.
fr3 monthsThe cookie is set by Facebook to show relevant advertisments to the users and measure and improve the advertisements. The cookie also tracks the behavior of the user across the web on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin.
IDE1 year 24 daysUsed by Google DoubleClick and stores information about how the user uses the website and any other advertisement before visiting the website. This is used to present users with ads that are relevant to them according to the user profile.
IMRID1 year 24 daysThe domain of this cookie is owned by Nielsen. The cookie is used for storing the start and end of the user session for nielsen statistics. It helps in consumer profiling for online advertising.
personalization_id2 yearsThis cookie is set by twitter.com. It is used integrate the sharing features of this social media. It also stores information about how the user uses the website for tracking and targeting.
TDID1 yearThe cookie is set by CloudFare service to store a unique ID to identify a returning users device which then is used for targeted advertising.
test_cookie15 minutesThis cookie is set by doubleclick.net. The purpose of the cookie is to determine if the user's browser supports cookies.
Others
Other uncategorized cookies are those that are being analyzed and have not been classified into a category as yet.
CookieDurationDescription
adEdition1 dayNo description
akaas_MSNBC10 daysNo description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional1 yearThe cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others1 yearNo description
geoEdition1 dayNo description
next-i18next1 yearNo description
SAVE & ACCEPT
Powered by CookieYes Logo
Scroll Up