Friday 25 September, 2020 - Ahead of International Safe Abortion Day on the 28th of September, 66 organisations including EPF partners and 9 member APPGs signed a statement calling on policymakers across Europe to improve access to safe, legal abortion throughout the continent.
In most countries in Europe, even liberal laws and policies are outdated regarding how, where, by whom and with whose permission abortion care can be provided, let alone on what grounds, how late in pregnancy, and with what legal and criminal restrictions and regulations.
The Covid-19 pandemic has highlighted the differential access to safe and legal abortion across Europe since March 2020. Lockdowns have confined women to their homes and borders have been closed, making it difficult for women living in countries with restrictive laws to cross a national border to find a legal abortion, while access to in-person, hospital-based abortion care has become considerably more difficult to find and arrange in many countries. Moreover, self-managed abortion at home with abortion pills, which has been shown to be safe in the first trimester of pregnancy, is not permitted by law in most if not all countries.
The statement calls for abortion laws, policies and services to be brought into the 21st century and ensure that no one is forced to continue a pregnancy against their will.
The organisations make 10 recommendations to policymakers:
A call to improve access to safe, legal abortion in every country in Europe
On the occasion of International Safe Abortion Day, 28 September 2020, we the undersigned call on policymakers in every European country to take responsibility for removing restrictions on safe and legal abortion in your country, in line with World Health Organization (WHO) guidance, as follows:1. Recognise abortion as essential, time-sensitive healthcare.
2. Guarantee access to safe, legal abortion, with particular attention to under-served and vulnerable populations, and with as little disruption as possible in times of crisis.
3. Allow self-managed abortion with pills at home in the first trimester of pregnancy.
4. Support the use of telemedicine when appropriate, to arrange abortions and for follow-up, including 24-hour support for those who self-manage abortion at home.
5. Make aspiration abortions available at outpatient or primary-level facilities, provided by trained mid-level providers (and during the Covid-19 pandemic in line with agreed protocols for prevention of risk in healthcare settings).
6. Allow second trimester medical abortions to take place in outpatient clinics, managed by mid-level providers, with specialist back-up as required. This will remove the need for operating theatre conditions or a gynaecologist in the great majority of cases.
7. Train GPs, nurses and midwives to arrange and provide abortions as appropriate to meet demand and to ensure a sufficient number of willing providers. Denial of care by healthcare professionals, e.g. due to their personal beliefs, must not delay or restrict women’s right to access abortion care.
8. Train pharmacists and appropriate pharmacy staff to provide medical abortion pills over the counter and by post to women for use at home.
9. Simplify abortion regulations, removing all medically unnecessary requirements, so as to facilitate access to abortion without delay.
10. Decriminalise abortion, including in the second trimester of pregnancy, and also in the rare cases after the second trimester if the woman’s life, health and well-being would be adversely affected if she were forced to continue the pregnancy.