The “My Voice, My Choice” campaign has gathered more than 1.2 million signatures on a European Citizens’ Initiative calling for the European Commission to provide financial support for safe and legal abortion services across the EU.
The year-long signature collection effort, which concluded today, has successfully surpassed the one million threshold required to compel an official response from the European Commission. The initiative gained support across 19 of the 27 EU member states, significantly exceeding the minimum requirement of seven countries.
In Ireland, over 12,500 people signed the petition, well above the country’s threshold of 9,165 signatures. The campaign saw particularly strong support in Slovenia, where it originated, with over 65,000 signatures. France recorded the highest absolute number with more than 200,000 signatories, followed by Germany and Italy with over 150,000 each.
Rather than attempting to harmonize abortion laws across member states, the initiative specifically calls for “financial support to Member States that would be able to perform safe termination of pregnancies, in accordance with their domestic law, for anyone in Europe who still lacks access to safe and legal abortion.” This proposal would create a voluntary “opt-in mechanism” for countries with more liberal abortion access to provide care for women traveling from areas with more restrictive laws.
“Those with enough money can travel for an abortion — there’s always a way for them,” said Veronika Povž, communication director of the campaign. “But it’s the marginalised groups and those who can’t afford it who suffer the most.”
The petition addresses a significant ongoing issue in Europe. An investigation by The Journal earlier this month revealed that over 5,000 women in Europe travel across borders for abortion services annually.
The achievement marks a relatively rare success for the European Citizens’ Initiative system. Since its introduction 13 years ago, only 11 out of 119 accepted initiatives have gathered the required signatures, with 95 failing to meet the threshold.
The campaign, which declared over €830,000 in sponsorship since February last year, now enters a three-month verification process by member states. If at least one million valid signatures remain after verification, the European Commission will have six months to formally respond with its legal and political conclusions and outline any actions it intends to take.