R11: Right to abortion is a human right. It is under attack, let’s fight for it!

While reactionary forces are rising globally, including in the European Union,
sexual and reproductive health and rights are under heavy attack.

Among these rights, the right and access to safe and legal abortion, achieved
through constant feminist struggles and still unsatisfactory in most EU
countries, is under constant pressure and the target of attacks from anti-
choices and anti-rights movements. These attacks are part of long-term and
systemic strategies, aimed at progressively deteriorating this right, including
through passing regressive abortion laws, organizing global attacks on
constitutional rights and rule of law, and reducing the financing of healthcare
systems providing access to this right.

As a result, the scope of abortion rights and its effectiveness at the global
level is declining at an alarming rate.

These attacks put lives in danger. Restrictive abortion laws do not reduce the
number of abortions, but increase the number of unsafe abortions. As a matter of
fact, 45% of abortions in the world are not carried out safely, which leads to
one woman dying every nine minutes after an illegal abortion procedure. There
are other risks too, when abortion does not form part of reproductive
healthcare, women in need of life-saving procedures face dying of septic shock.
This has real-world consequences and has been observed recently in Poland. While
Malta’s lack of holistic reproductive healthcare came into in view in summer
2022 when a woman, Andrea Prudente, had to be airlifted to Spain to access a
life-saving abortion.

These attacks worsen social injustice. When abortion is illegal and
criminalized, vulnerable groups face higher barriers to manage unwanted
pregnancies and access abortion. As a consequence, poorer people, vulnerable,
and marginalized groups face greater danger when confronted with an unwanted
pregnancy.

These attacks are also part of a wider political strategy to dismantle
democratic societies based on individual rights and freedoms, especially women’s
and minority rights and freedoms.

As European greens, we place fighting for the right to safe and legal abortion
at the core of our political project, because our political project is based on
bodily autonomy, human rights and fundamental freedoms, social justice, and
democracy.

As European Greens, we consider that the right for all people who could get
pregnant, being cis-women, trans men and non-binary people, to decide if, how
and when they carry a pregnancy is a fundamental right that needs to be
guaranteed, protected and fought for.

We believe that legal abortions, like other healthcare, needs to be safe and
accessible and that this should be the case before, during and after the
procedure. In addition to the fundamental right to have a legal abortion, we
therefore consider that making abortion easily accessible, in good psychological
and sanitary conditions is key.

The protection and effective guarantee of this right is not only a matter of
fundamental rights and freedom, it is also a basic element of democratic
societies based on equal citizens’ rights. Indeed, the free access to proper and
safe healthcare also in reproductive matters, is considered to be one of the
cornerstones of an egalitarian society.

We also acknowledge that there is a direct link between limiting the right to
safe abortions and proper reproductive healthcare and the rise of
authoritarianism in Europe

Countless people all across Europe and the world have been forced to turn to the
streets to demand that their voices be heard, and their rights to be secured.

To continue strengthening democracy in the world today, it is therefore crucial
to assert not just the legalization of abortions but the provision of safe, free
and accessible abortions in good psychological and sanitary conditions as a part
of securing bodily autonomy, especially when it comes to reproductive matters,
for everyone.

In order to implement and strengthen this, the European Greens demand the
recognition of the fundamental right of cis women, trans men, and non-binary
people that could get pregnant to:

Specifically, to practically achieve these goals, the European Greens:

Furthermore, we demand to not support any anti-abortion movement or causes
linked to anti-abortion, implying:

As the European Green Party, we commit:

- To condemn any practice aimed at making abortion procedures inaccessible,
unsafe or hostile.

- To not support candidates with ties to anti-abortion movements or causes
linked to anti-abortion.

- To not accept money from anti-abortion movements or causes linked to anti-
abortion.