Going abroad to get an abortion, a struggle for thousands of women in Europe

On 24 April of this year the European Citizens' Initiative (ECI) My Voice, My Choice came to a close. The initiative attracted around 1.2 million signatures: a remarkable success for an ECI – a mechanism that calls the European Commission to propose a legal act in an area where the member countries delegated powers to the EU, provided it collects enough signatures. The campaign demanded a financing mechanism to guarantee safe abortion care for all those without access to such services. 

Current laws and practices, it seems, are far removed from what civil society knows to be the reality.

Getting an abortion in Europe

"Yes, Claudine, we have won, but only temporarily. All that will be required is a political, economic or religious crisis for our rights – women’s rights – to be called into question. You must remain vigilant throughout your life". These were the words of Simone de Beauvoir, in conversation with the writer and activist Claudine Monteil, following the legalisation of abortion in France in 1974.

Indeed, getting an abortion in 2025 is still a problem - personally, politically and emotionally. And it's a burden borne by women alone. As the Italian actor Daniele Luttazzi has said, "if men could get pregnant, you'd be able to get an abortion at the barber".

In Europe, abortion is legal everywhere except Poland and Malta, where it is only possible to terminate a pregnancy in cases of rape, or when the life of the mother is at risk.  

Sometimes, however, this can be a purely formal right, as in Italy, where conscientious objection has led to abortion being impossible to access in certain regions (the latest data, gathered by Margherita Gobbo as part of the Come Together project, can be found here). 

Órla Ryan and Maria Delaney in The Journal Investigates have found that "over 5,000 women in Europe have to travel abroad for abortions each year. In 2023, that number was at least 5,860."

The article is part of a transnational journalistic investigation, "Exporting Abortion", coordinated by the Spanish newspaper Público. Journalists from across the continent produced worked on the project, and were published by 11 different media outlets, including OKO.press (Poland), Expresso (Portugal), Taz (Germany), Denník N (Slovakia), Page not found (Czech Republic), Altaveu (Andorra), Amphora Media (Malta) and Moment (Austria).

"Between 2019 and 2023", Ryan and Delaney write, "women travelled at least 27,200 times to another country within Europe to have an abortion". As the writers explain, these women have to travel because abortion is either banned or the legislation is too restrictive, or because they have passed the legal gestation limit for terminating their pregnancy.  

However, this number is "just the tip of the iceberg", because these figures include "only those abortions performed on European women residing in other countries and carried out in 10 countries, including Ireland and the UK, as well as some Polish women in Germany and Austria."

The other countries either do not collect official data on abortion, or have only just begun to do so. This is due to differences in national legislations and practices, different approaches to personal data, and the absence of a common European legislation, as Armelle Desmaison explains in Mediapart, which participated in the investigation. 

For example, in Austria, Desmaison writes, "there is no way to know how many women travel to the country in order to have an abortion. And yet, as Salah El-Najjar, medical director and gynecologist at the Woman & Health Clinic in Vienna, confirms: 'we receive women from Poland, Hungary, Germany, Slovakia, Czech Republic and even from Arab countries such as the United Arab Emirates.'"

The "hottest" destination for such trips is the Netherlands, where abortion is permitted up to the 24th week of pregnancy. "In the past five years, over 13,100 women from other European countries have had abortions in the Netherlands", Ryan and Delaney write.  

Ciara McHugh, helpline coordinator for the Abortion Support Network (ASN), told The Journal Investigates that "it’s the most vulnerable who are still being exported to access care."

In France, where the right to abortion was recently enshrined in the constitution, the procedure is not always easy to access, primarily due to cuts to the public health system. Lisa Carayon, professor at Sorbonne Paris North University, told The Journal Investigates that "the measure has had a more evident impact 'at the level of international politics' than in terms of better access to abortion in the territory. It 'gives hope' to feminist movements around the world."

It is also worth highlighting Ukraine. As the Exporting Abortion website reports, "the war has made it harder for women in Ukraine to access abortion services, forcing many to leave the country to obtain them elsewhere. In 2019, Ukraine recorded 74,606 abortions. In 2020, with the pandemic, the number dropped to 61,048 abortions. But instead of stabilising or returning to pre-pandemic levels like in most countries, abortions have continued to decline. In 2023, there were 42,683."

"Some women living in other parts of the world face even harsher realities", the report continues. "Those who can afford it travel to Europe to access abortion services. For example, between 2019 and 2023, 86 women residing in Morocco had abortions in Spain, along with 66 from Brazil and 56 from the United Arab Emirates. [...] In other countries, there are no legal grounds at all for abortion—meaning that even if the pregnant woman’s life is at risk, she must continue the pregnancy. Total bans on abortion on request place spontaneous miscarriages under suspicion, with women potentially being prosecuted as if they had chosen to abort. This is the case in Honduras, the Philippines, the Dominican Republic, and El Salvador."

Ordering abortion pills

Ryan and Delaney also found that "there is a growing trend of women ordering and taking abortion pills in countries where abortion rights are highly restricted. This happens outside formal healthcare, leaving women without medical supervision." 

This phenomenon is especially relevant in Malta and Poland, though there is no reliable data. Doctor Natalie Psaila Stabile, co-founder of Doctors for Choice Malta, told Amphora Media that "people get very concerned about the pills being stuck at customs or being found out… Some fear being reported by family members, partners, or even their ex-partners. Some are in abusive relationships where their partner wants them to keep the pregnancy, and they don’t."

"Under Maltese law", Joanna Demarco in Amphora Media explains, "it is legal to purchase the pills, possess them, and even consume them. It is only illegal to consume them while pregnant."