Europe : The right to abortion under attack
As the Abortion Rights Campaign is holding a rally today in Dublin in solidarity with a woman prosecuted in Northern Ireland for helping her daughter to access abortion pills, FIDH firmly denounces recent attacks against women’s access to abortion in several European countries. In Poland, a bill providing for a total ban on abortion is being drafted. In Northern Ireland, a woman was sentenced to prison for taking an abortion pill. In Ireland and Malta, draconian laws on abortion are still in force. In Italy, Council of Europe’s data show that the law granting women the right to abortion is not being adequately implemented and results in this right often being denied to women in practice. FIDH urges European States to uphold women’s rights, and not cave in to the demands of those who intend to restrict or violate it.