What does My Voice, My Choice mean for people who need abortions in Europe?

On Thursday this week, the European Commission will respond to the My Voice, My Choice Citizens’ Initiative, following a successful vote in the European Parliament in December. Camille Kumar, Managing Director at Abortion Support Network, takes a closer look at what this historic vote means for people seeking safe and legal abortion care in Europe in 2026.

After 18 months of organising, My Voice My Choice campaigners secured over one million signatures in support of safe and legal abortion access across the EU. In December 2025, a majority of Members of the European Parliament voted to advance the Initiative. Now, on 26 February 2026, the Commission will outline its response.

More than 170 civil society organisations — including Abortion Support Network — have signed an open letter urging the Commission to respond positively. The My Voice, My Choice Initiative has shone a light on the widespread inaccessibility of abortion across Europe, and shown there is public support for equitable and improved access to abortion care. In the face of rising anti-abortion and anti-rights rhetoric globally, this is a historic and symbolic moment. But what will it change for women and pregnant people seeking abortion care in Europe?

Many people are surprised to learn Abortion Support Network exists, because they didn’t know people have to travel for abortion care in Europe. While some may have heard about the highly restrictive abortion ban in Poland, they may not know about Malta where abortion is only permitted in cases where inaction will lead to imminent death of a patient. Many don’t know about the hundreds of people ASN supports every year from France and Ireland, where abortion law reforms have been widely celebrated. Abortion care is heavily regulated and overly legislated across Europe, resulting in a postcode lottery that is difficult to navigate. My Voice My Choice draws much-needed attention to the patchwork of provision across the EU and the fact that abortion access is a cross-border issue that no country can resolve alone.

If adopted, the MVMC proposal would enable EU Member states to draw upon funding to provide abortion care to people forced to travel for abortion care. At ASN we know how significant financial barriers are for people seeking abortion care. Last year we financially supported 112 people from Poland to access care, providing more than €70,000 in assistance. Removing or reducing those costs would ease an enormous burden.

However, details remain unclear. First, eligibility. Will non-EU citizens (including asylum seekers, refugees, non-EU nationals on spousal visas) be able to access care? What evidence will be required? Second, costs. If the mechanism covers clinic costs only, who will cover the costs of travel and accommodation? What, if any, financial assessments will take place to determine eligibility? Third, regulations. How is it decided what country someone will access care in? Will they have to meet domestic requirements for accessing care including time limits, mandatory counselling and or waiting periods? Fourth, capacity. With care refusal (‘conscientious objection’) legislated for in almost every EU country, how will provider scarcity be addressed?

Cost is only one barrier to abortion. ASN supports someone every 2 hours. Two-thirds of our callers don’t need financial support – they have other barriers to overcome. Last year, there was Sophie* from Ireland who needed support to leave her abusive partner who was stopping her from getting to the airport. Kasia* who lived in a rural part of Poland who had no one to look after her children for the two days she would need to travel to the Dutch clinic and back. Anne*, whose complex mental health needs meant she needed intensive support and a companion to travel. Even with the costs of treatment covered, many people will still need helpline support, information and virtual accompaniment to make the journey.

Bureaucracy takes time. Even with a positive response from the Commission, nothing is likely to change for many years. After the successful Repeal vote in Ireland in 2018 – which led to legalised abortion in Ireland – many people believe the Irish campaign was won. In reality, the 3-day mandatory waiting period, the 12-week limit and strict conditions for the fatal foetal anomaly exemption mean hundreds of women and pregnant people still have no choice but to travel to England for abortion care every year. Alongside the thousands of pounds we spend each year supporting those people, a lot of our work in Ireland is reminding people that the job isn’t done.

If we claim a full victory for abortion rights on 26 February, we will be ignoring the thousands of people who can’t access abortion care right now.

ASN has been supporting abortion seekers for 16 years, yet there is still not a single week where we do not learn something new about barriers to abortion access, and creative ways to overcome them. We know the work that we and our sibling abortion funds do across Europe is life-changing, and life-saving. We will continue doing what we do: answering calls, providing information and connecting people who need abortions to those who safely provide them.

We celebrate the powerful win of My Voice, My Choice campaigners. We celebrate the work our donor community does to provide mutual aid support to people seeking safe abortions. We celebrate the hours of time ASN volunteers give to ensure no one makes this journey alone. And most of all we celebrate the people travelling for abortion care, who are endlessly resourceful, trusting and creative in finding ways to ensure their rights to bodily autonomy and essential healthcare are upheld.

In the words of Diane Di Prima (Revolutionary letter #8):

“NO ONE WAY WORKS, it will take all of us

shoving at the thing from all sides

to bring it down”

We need you to join our network of people who are making community-powered abortion a reality across Europe. None of us can fix the problem on our own. But together we can all do a piece.

*Names have been changed.