My Voice, My Choice initiative endorsed by European Parliament committee

SLOVENIA, November 6 - Slovenia's 8 March Institute, which spearheaded the initiative, said this showed reproductive rights are a subject that brings people together.

The non-binding draft resolution of the European Parliament for safe and accessible abortions was upheld by the FEMM committee in a 26:12 vote.

The resolution calls on the European Commission to set up a financial mechanism enabling member states to provide safe abortions to all women in the EU who cannot access them in line with national legislation.

The resolution has to be adopted by the European Parliament, which is scheduled to discuss it at the plenary in Strasbourg at the end of the month.

The 8 March Institute head Nika Kovač said after the vote that it was the first win. "We were afraid of how the vote was going to go because the composition of the European Parliament is the most right-leaning in its history," she said.

"But once again what we saw during signature collection was confirmed: freedom of choice and fundamental reproductive rights are not a subject that divides but one that connects people of different political beliefs, nationalities, processions, religions and age," she said.

The 8 March Institute submitted the initiative to the European Commission on 1 September along with more than 1,120,000 signatures of EU citizens. The Commission must respond to the citizens' initiative by the end of March 2026.

Source: STA