Over 170 Civil Society Organisations Urge the European Commission to Act on My Voice, My Choice

More than 170 civil society organisations from across all 27 EU Member States have sent a joint letter to the European Commission calling for a positive and decisive response to the My Voice, My Choice European Citizens’ Initiative.

Addressed to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu, Commissioner for Equality Hadja Lahbib, and Commissioner for Health Olivér Várhelyi, the letter urges the Commission to commit to a concrete legislative proposal establishing EU financial support for access to safe and legal abortion care within the European Union, with dedicated funding in the next Multiannual Financial Framework.

The organisations stress that profound inequalities in access to abortion care persist across the EU. In several Member States, women and pregnant people are still forced to travel across borders to obtain safe and legal abortion services — or are pushed into unsafe and illegal pathways. Financial barriers remain one of the most significant obstacles, often leading to serious physical and psychological harm.

The letter emphasises that My Voice, My Choice offers a targeted and

proportionate EU-level solution to this cross-border problem. It calls for the creation of a voluntary EU financial mechanism that would allow Member States willing to provide abortion care to patients from other EU countries to receive EU reimbursement — fully respecting national competences, subsidiarity, and existing legal and medical frameworks.

As the European Commission itself underlined during the European Parliament debate on 16 December 2025, the initiative does not interfere with national abortion laws, which remain under national competence. Instead, it addresses a challenge that no Member State can resolve alone and where EU coordination is uniquely necessary.

The signatories highlight that more than one million EU citizens have backed the initiative, alongside a clear majority in the European Parliament. They urge the Commission to honour this democratic mandate and uphold the EU’s commitments to gender equality, public health, human rights, and freedom of movement.

Among the organisations signing the letter are some of the most prominent human rights, health, and equality organisations in Europe and beyond, including:

• Amnesty International

• International Planned Parenthood Federation – European Network (IPPF EN)

• Center for Reproductive Rights

• International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)

• Oxfam France

• Women Against Violence Europe

• Abortion Support Network

• Doctors for Choice (Germany, Malta, UK)

• Bündnis für Sexuelle Selbstbestimmung (Germany)

• Dolle Mina (Netherlands)

  
  

The letter concludes with a clear message: a positive response to My Voice, My Choice would save lives, reduce suffering, and translate EU values into concrete action.