Access to free abortion is increasing in Europe

- In Europe, most countries have moved towards a legalization of abortion and the countries have generally made abortion care more accessible to women.

Last week, Poland took steps towards tightening the country's abortion ban, but Gomperts believes Poland should be seen as an exception.

Kavot Zillén, associate professor of public law and specialist in medical law, also sees a trend towards free abortion.

- In the last decade, we have seen a development where many European countries have introduced health strategies and policies to ensure reproductive rights and abortion.

Abortion pills after shutdowns

The corona pandemic has exacerbated the situation, according to Women on web.

The organization sends abortion pills to women who cannot have abortions in their home country and has studied requests for help during the pandemic.

The statistics show an increase in cases from countries where abortion is mainly performed in hospitals.

Inquiries increased from countries that had abortion bans and travel restrictions.

- This can be put in relation to the United Kingdom, which immediately after its closure introduced digital solutions for abortion care.

There we have seen a decrease in requests for help, says Gomperts.

Conscience clauses common

Even when abortion is legal, there can be practical obstacles, such an example is "conscience clauses".

The term refers to legislation that gives healthcare professionals the right to refuse care due to personal convictions.

- The majority of Council of Europe member states have some form of conscience clause, says Kavot Zillén.

But according to Zillén, it is not possible to give a general answer for how the conscience clauses affect.

- In Norway, there has long been a statutory right for health care professionals to be exempted from performing abortions due to conscientious objections.

As far as I know, it has not been reported that the application of this clause has contributed to the deterioration of accessibility.

- But this can be set against, for example, Italy.

There have been reports of cases where 85 percent of the gynecologists at the same care facility refused to perform an abortion and this has affected the availability of care.