EU: citizens' initiative asserts right to abortion
The citizens' initiative "My voice, My Choice" has collected 1.1 million signatures for safe abortions in the EU and submitted it to the European Commission. The Commission ruled that EU states can use existing funding from other programmes to pay for abortions but stopped short of setting up a new fund to cover treatment and travel costs. A victory?
Influencing from the bottom up works
Hämeen Sanomat welcomes the success of the European Citizens' Initiative:
“This was a victory for advocates of women's rights and equality who had been working towards this goal for years. Even in the EU it's possible to achieve results through citizens' initiatives and intensive lobbying. In a Europe at war, this is reassuring news. Active citizen engagement can influence decision-making and human rights. ... The timing is also significant. In Europe, every effort is being made to undermine equality. This calls for countermeasures. The right to abortion is one of them.”
Good but not enough
Europe is gradually moving in the right direction, Le Soir concludes:
“The insidious catch is that this will require drawing on existing budgets. In Belgium this new aid could therefore come at the expense of other European Social Fund projects such as food aid or reintegrating people without qualifications into the labour market. Unfortunately, today we are having to finance the relocation of women in emergency situations because Europe has not succeeded in preventing the adoption or continuation of regressive laws in all its member states. ... It would be better to secure the right to self-determination over one's own body throughout Europe.”
EU's political will lacking on women's rights
For the taz the argument that health policy should be left to individual member states is just a pretext:
“It's true that health policy is a national rather than an EU competence, but that didn't prevent the EU Commission from taking charge during the Covid pandemic. For one thing because the political will was there. But also because the EU is allowed to act in a supportive and complementary manner on health issues. ... So if the European Commission had considered the project important, it would have been possible to set up such a fund. The EU is always willing to resort to legal tricks when it wants to push through something politically but individual member states are not playing ball. When it comes to women's rights, however, this desire for a united EU apparently ends.”