The European Commission will allow member states to tap EU funds to support cross-border access to safe abortion. But it stopped short of creating a new financial instrument or allocating additional money.
The move, announced on Thursday, follows a 2025 European citizens’ initiative that gathered more than 1.1 million signatures calling for a dedicated fund to help cover abortion costs for women unable to access the procedure in their own country.
“Just the fact that countries can apply to the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+) for this purpose is a victory,” MEP Lina Gálvez (S&D, ES), chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Women’s Rights, told The Parliament.
“The ideal would have been to include abortion in the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, but given the majorities we don’t have [in the European Parliament and Council], this is a good outcome,” she added.
Although the initiative didn’t seek to alter national abortion laws, any move to create EU-wide rules on access to safe abortion — a highly divisive issue in several member states — would have faced steep political resistance.
However, the success of the initiative will depend heavily on the willingness of capitals to repurpose funds from other activities.
How will safe-abortion funds work in practice?
Rather than creating a new funding tool, the Commission’s fix is the European Social Fund Plus (ESF+), a pool jointly managed by Brussels and national governments.
Under the scheme, member states can apply to use ESF+ resources to support cross-border access to safe abortion, covering travel and related medical costs for vulnerable women unable to access the procedure in their own country.
Although the ESF+ has never been used for this purpose, the Commission said it will actively assist capitals willing to tap the fund so that they can amend the programmes covered by it.
So far, at least 10 countries, including Finland, France, Slovenia and Spain, have expressed interest in a European framework that would guarantee real, effective and equal access to reproductive healthcare.
In a letter seen by The Parliament, national ministers urged the Commission ahead of its decision: “No individual should be forced to carry a pregnancy against their will due to legal, financial, geographical, or broader socio-economic barriers that undermine equal access in practice.”
Gálvez said she expects more governments to follow, adding that several national elections this year — from Ljubljana to Budapest — could influence how quickly capitals move.
“We have seen that even a change in government in some countries can put at risk sexual and reproductive rights of women, [...] so I hope civil society in each one of the European countries will be able to put pressure on their own governments [to join these efforts].”
The ESF+ has a budget of €142.7 billion for the 2021–2027 period, allocated to countries based on their population size. Commission Executive Vice-President Roxana Mînzatu said the funding could be extended until 2029 and potentially beyond.
“Everything that we now support will continue to be supported under the next EU’s long-term budget,” she told reporters on Thursday. “How much money will be available, that is to be seen after the ongoing negotiations."
A partial win for 483,000 European women
Around 483,000 unsafe abortions take place in Europe every year, according to the World Health Organization, which declares unsafe abortions “a matter of public health.”
Access to abortion varies widely across the EU. In countries like Malta or Poland, the procedure is either illegal or permitted only under narrow circumstances, such as when the woman’s life is at risk or in cases of rape or incest.
Elsewhere, abortion is legal but not always easily accessible. Short gestational limits or high rates of conscientious objections — where doctors or medical staff refuse to perform abortions on moral or religious grounds — can significantly restrict access in practice.
For instance, while countries like Finland, Lithuania and Sweden do not allow gynecologists to opt out of providing abortion procedures, most member states allow conscientious objection either broadly in healthcare or specifically for abortions. In Italy around 60% of gynecologists are objectors, with rates exceeding 80 or even 90% in some regions.
The Commission had to find a workaround as public health and organization of medical care remain national competences, leaving the EU executive with little room to maneuver.
“The proposal fully respects member states' autonomy on health policy and organization of their health systems,” Nika Kovač, campaign coordinator for My Voice, My Choice, told The Parliament. Member states that choose to participate “would provide reproductive rights and abortion to women in accordance with their law.”
Enshrining abortion in the Charter of Fundamental Rights — making it a right for all EU citizens — would have required overwhelming support across EU institutions. The initiative’s narrower request offered the Commission a more viable way forward.
“This is a marathon, not a sprint,” MEP Abir Al-Sahlani (Renew Europe, SE) told reporters in Brussels following the Commission's decision, arguing that more monitoring of sexual and reproductive rights and funds will be needed across the EU in the coming years.
MEP Gálvez also noted that the initiative demonstrates that citizen-led pressure can shape EU action.
“Sometimes we say the European Union has a democratic deficit, that it is far from its citizens,” Gálvez said. “This initiative shows that is not true. We have the tools, but citizens need to get involved.”
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