| dc.description.abstract | Many barriers to essential abortion care persist
across Europe and Central Asia. Moreover, in some
countries experiencing a rise in populism, the
situation is deteriorating. Ultra-conservative forces—
with an agenda to control women’s freedom and by
extension their reproductive health—are attempting
to force their fundamentalist view of gender roles
on others, in both public and private spheres. One of
their tactics is to force women through pregnancies
against their will by promoting the refusal of abortion
care.
As part of IPPF EN’s commitment to counter these
pressures and ensure access to dignified and safe
abortion care for all women and girls who need it, we
have periodically published core data on the status
of abortion legislation in the region1
. This document
constitutes the latest edition in the series, but also
represents a significant extension in scope. It provides
not only the relevant legislation in each country,
but crucially how these laws are then interpreted
by providers and experienced by women and girls,
including the impact upon their health and dignity.
Further, the report explores particular themes
that have been at the centre of recent debates
around abortion, such as denial of care on grounds
of individuals’ personal beliefs. Plus, the account
considers the extent to which current provision of care
contravenes state commitments to protect women’s
health and safety under international human rights
law.
Data for this document has mostly been provided by
IPPF EN Member Associations and Partners from 42
states in Europe and Central Asia through an online
survey2
administered during summer 2018, with
updates provided in 2019 for the Republic of North
Macedonia, Ireland3
and Northern Ireland4
. (Please
note, Great Britain—comprising England, Scotland
and Wales—and Northern Ireland are treated as two
distinct entities given the significant differences in
provision within their two borders.) References to
country-specific cases within this report are drawn
from the same survey. Their selection was based on
the availability of data and their value in illustrating
the particular challenges posed by specific restrictive
legislation and/or practices; readers should not
assume that the experiences described are limited to
women and girls living in the country mentioned.
It is important to underline that this is not a research
paper, but rather a synthesis of the expertise
and understanding of our Members and Partners
working in the field and serving women every day. It
is designed to provide an overview of women’s and
girls’ experience around accessing abortion care, to
highlight current threats to their reproductive health
and rights and to stimulate further debate and
research in this area.
The report begins by situating abortion care as an
essential component of women’s reproductive
health, as defined within the broader framework
of international human rights law, specifically the
Right to the Highest Attainable Standard of Physical
and Mental Health. It then examines to what extent
current provision within national borders aligns with
or deviates from state obligations to care for and
value equally women and girls. It covers four key
areas: the criminalisation of abortion; the various
grounds available to women and girls to access
abortion care and the time limits imposed thereon;
the additional institutional and procedural hurdles
to abortion care; and finally, the significant financial
burden inflicted on women and girls when accessing
care across the region. For each section, the ‘best’
and ‘worst’ country scenarios have been referenced
to highlight how differently a particular barrier to
care might be implemented and then experienced
by women and girls across Europe and Central Asia.
The national examples of ‘best’ and ‘best-fit’ practice
may in turn be used respectively as final and midterm goals for our Members and Partners working as
advocates and campaigners for women’s health and
reproductive agency across the region. | en_US |
