The European citizen initiative My Voice, My Choice is advocating safe and accessible abortions for all women across the EU. Launched in April 2024 and coordinated by the Slovenian 8th of March Institute, it managed to rake in over one million signatures well ahead of its deadline. EESC Info spoke with the organisers about the urgency of their campaign in the current political climate, where women are increasingly losing control over their reproductive rights.

What prompted you to start the initiative My Voice, My Choice, and what is your ultimate goal?

We started thinking about a campaign that would protect abortion rights in Europe almost three years ago, when Roe vs Wade was overturned in the US. Women from the States lost their constitutional right overnight, and we knew right away that we needed to protect abortion in Europe as well. Women in Poland are dying in hospitals because of an almost complete ban on abortions. They have held the biggest protests for abortion rights over the last few years. Women in Malta can still go to prison if they have an abortion. This year Giorgia Meloni has given anti-abortion groups permission to protest inside abortion clinics and harass women trying to get an abortion. More than 20 million women in Europe don’t have access to abortion.

That’s why we started the My Voice, My Choice campaign. We worked on our proposal with a team of international lawyers and formed a strong network with organisations from across Europe.

Our goal is to protect abortion rights at EU level and to improve access to abortion for women who now have to travel to other countries due to abortion bans (such as women in Malta and Poland) or because of a high rate of conscientious objection (as seen in Italy and Croatia), or just for anyone who currently can’t afford to have an abortion (in countries such as Germany or Austria).

The current political climate is exactly why our campaign is urgent. We need to unite and show that the majority of people stand for abortion rights and oppose restrictions on reproductive freedom. The majority of Europeans support abortion rights, and we must stand united to protect them.

What concrete steps are you asking the European Commission to take? How can this be achieved, given that health is a competence of the Member States?

We’re proposing that the European Commission establish a financial mechanism that would work as an opt-in mechanism for Member States, covering the cost of abortion procedures. It would operate in a similar way to programmes for cancer prevention and treatment.

The idea is that anyone who has to travel to another country for an abortion – due to heavy restrictions in their own country or a high rate of conscientious objection – will not have to pay for the procedure out of their own pocket. Right now, thousands of women are travelling to other countries where they sometimes pay thousands of euros for the procedure. Not everyone can afford that.

Abortion may not fall under the competences of the European Commission, but financial programmes related to healthcare do, which is how we were able to register our ECI. 

Why did you choose to pursue this through an ECI? How hopeful are you that the Commission will respond favourably?

Our Slovenian organisation, the 8th of March Institute, which is coordinating the My Voice, My Choice campaign, has extensive experience with national civil initiatives, signature collection and referendums. Through the national civil initiative mechanism we have already successfully changed 15 laws in Slovenia and won two national referendums. That’s why we wanted to find a similar direct democracy tool at EU level. That’s how we became familiar with the ECI. We wanted to achieve direct change that would have a lasting impact on reproductive rights for everyone in Europe, and that’s why we decided to start collecting signatures.

Throughout the campaign we have secured political support from all centre-left political groups in the European Parliament, received support from notable national-level politicians in many EU Member States, and have good connections and established relationships with European Commissionaires. We’re hopeful that they will listen to more than 1.2 million people who stand behind our initiative. 

How did you manage to mobilise people across different EU countries to support your initiative and help with the collection of signatures? What channels are you using to spread the word?

Throughout the campaign we built a strong network of over 300 organisations and created a beautiful community of over 2 000 volunteers from all over Europe. We wanted to be present on the streets of European cities, towns and villages, with our volunteers ready to collect signatures. We have managed to create a strong online presence on our Instagram, but we also use different channels such as Facebook, TikTok, YouTube, BlueSky, X and other social media platforms.

You surpassed the one million mark required for a successful ECI one month before the signature collection deadline. What kind of feedback and support, including financial support, have you received so far?

We managed to reach one million signatures in December, after collecting them for nine months, and closed the signature collection with 1.2 million signatures before the deadline.

We managed to collect the signatures with the help of our network and community, but we also applied for different funding opportunities throughout our campaign in order to sustain it. My Voice, My Choice has also won the Slovenian Sociology Society Award and is shortlisted for the SozialMarie Award. We have also gained the support of all centre-left political groups in the European Parliament, and individual support from various MEPs, Vice President of the European Parliament Nicolae Ștefănuță, French Senator Melanie Vogel, Slovenian President Nataša Pirc Musar, and Prime Minister Robert Golob. A lot of activists and individuals from different EU countries also support the campaign, such as Luisa Neubauer from Germany and Alice Coffin from France.

My Voice, My Choice is an initiative that is evolving into one of Europe’s largest feminist movements. It includes more than 300 organisations, countless supporters and dedicated volunteers from across the EU who work together to ensure safe and accessible abortion in the European Union.