I would like to start by congratulating the organisers and supporters of this initiative. You have collected over one million valid statements of support across the EU and reached the minimum thresholds in 19 Member States. Well done.
You made ‘My Voice, My Choice: For Safe and Accessible Abortion the twelfth citizens initiative submitted to the Commission for examination. While promoting your initiative, you also helped raise awareness of the European citizens initiative itself, something we are also working to do.
The European Citizens Initiative (ECI) is a unique tool. It allows citizens to bring forward the issues they care about, start a debate, shape the EU agenda, and play an active role in our Unions democratic life. Several EU laws have been triggered by successful ECIs, such as the revised drinking water directive and the regulation on transparency and sustainability of EU risk assessments in the food chain.
Work also continues on commitments the Commission made in response to recent initiatives, such as phasing out animal testing in chemical safety assessments and measures to protect sharks.
Once an initiative is received, the Commission has six months to decide what action, if any, it will take. This means the Commission does not yet have a position on your initiative. We are here mainly to listen to the exchange with the members of Parliament and stakeholders.
Your initiative carries an important message: ‘Preventing unsafe abortion is a matter of public health. This is undeniably true.
The numbers show the scale of the problem. Every year, over 30 million unsafe abortions take place around the world. The WHO stresses that lack of access to safe, affordable, and timely abortion care, and the stigma associated with abortion, pose risks to womens physical and mental well-being throughout the course of their lives.
Research shows that restricting access to abortion care does not reduce the number of abortions. It only leads to unsafe practices. This public health issue needs to be addressed. The question is how best to do it and at which level.
Our reply to the ECI will take into account the limits of the EUs competences in health. Article 168 of the Treaty on Functioning of the European Union states that healthcare, including sexual and reproductive healthcare, is a Member State competence.
Under the Treaty, Member States are responsible for defining their health policies and how their health services and medical care are organised and delivered. The European Union does however have the competence to support and complement national health action, including on womens access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
In my mission letter, President von der Leyen has entrusted me with leading the Commissions work on sexual and reproductive health issues. In March this year, we acknowledged the importance of sexual and reproductive health and rights in the Roadmap for Womens Rights.
Principle 2 of the Roadmap includes protecting womens health by supporting and complementing national health action regarding womens access to sexual and reproductive health and rights.
We are now preparing the next Gender Equality Strategy, to be adopted ahead of International Womens Day 2026. This new strategy will set out concrete actions to deliver on the Roadmap.
We are well aware that regulating sexual and reproductive health issues like abortion is closely linked to ethical choices made by each Member State. I want to assure Members of this House that the Commissions decision on the ECI will not encroach on these national choices. The EU is here to support and complement.
Independently of the Commissions decision on this ECI, we will continue to support regular exchanges of good practices between Member States and stakeholders on gender equality and health. This includes on sexual and reproductive health and rights, through our Mutual Learning programme, and beyond.
We will also continue to fund civil society organisations working on gender equality, including sexual and reproductive health and rights, through the Citizens, Equality, Rights and Values (CERV) programme. This includes its successor in the next Multi-Annual Financial Framework, the AgoraEU programme.
We will also closely monitor how Member States transpose the Directive on combating Violence Against Women and Domestic Violence to ensure that victims of sexual violence have access to healthcare services, such as sexual and reproductive healthcare, in line with national law.
This marks an important moment in the examination phase of your initiative. Today other institutions and stakeholders will have the chance to hear more about your initiative and share their views. I am looking forward to your presentation and to the discussions ahead.
