EU must guarantee access to reproductive healthcare for Ukrainian refugees

BRUSSELS, 24.02.25—Three years into Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, many refugees—particularly women and girls—continue to face serious barriers in accessing essential sexual and reproductive healthcare in some parts of the EU.

The recent decision to renew the EU’s Temporary Protection Directive (TPD) extends member states’ obligations to provide crucial support to millions fleeing the war, including healthcare. However, its inconsistent implementation in some countries, and the lack of detailed guidance from the European Commission on its requirements, has left many women from Ukraine without affordable access to good quality maternal healthcare, contraception services and urgent abortion care.

Since 2023, research has repeatedly shown that systemic barriers—including policy restrictions, lack of affordable services and serious information gaps—are still preventing refugees in some member states from accessing the care they need. In some cases, refugees are forced to leave the EU and return to Ukraine to seek urgent medical care, including childbirth and abortion services.

“Three years on, action is still needed to ensure that all Ukrainian refugees can access essential reproductive care in all parts of the EU,” said Katrine Thomasen, Associate Director for Europe at the Centre for Reproductive Rights. “Women and girls, already traumatised by war, continue to be denied basic healthcare in countries that should be offering them safety.”

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Mihela Kralj, Senior Communications Manager for Europe, Center for Reproductive Rights: [email protected]

Notes to Editors:

In 2023, the Centre for Reproductive Rights and eight partner organisations working directly with refugees in Hungary, Poland, Romania, and Slovakia published Care in Crisis: Failures to guarantee the sexual and reproductive health and rights of refugees from Ukraine in Hungary, Poland, Romania and Slovakia. which outlined the serious gaps in access to sexual and reproductive healthcare and gender based violence services facing refugees in these countries.

In 2024, the European Institute for Gender Equality (EIGE) published a report on the barriers Ukrainian women face in accessing sexual and reproductive healthcare in the EU under the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD), including access to emergency contraception, STI prevention and treatment, obstetric and gynecological care, psychological counselling, and safe abortion services. Based on data from 26 Member States and in-depth interviews in four countries, the study revealed significant gaps, including limited free services, delays in essential care, a lack of rape crisis centers, and restrictive legislation that forced some women to seek healthcare abroad or even return to conflict zones to access care.