Europe Abortion Laws 2025 – progress, policies, and challenges
We bring you a summary of the key findings of the European Abortion Laws 2025 – Policies, Progress and Challenges study by the Center for Reproductive Rights. The findings were summarized by our volunteer Klára, to whom we extend our heartfelt appreciation ✨
Most European countries today allow access to abortion, usually on request in the early stages of pregnancy. Although the trend towards gradually improving access to abortion continues in many European countries, timely and accessible abortion still faces significant barriers.
Over the last ten years, twenty countries have introduced reforms that improve access to abortion, whether by legalizing abortion on demand, extending the time limit for undergoing an abortion, removing procedural barriers, or making medication-based abortion available. Nevertheless, access to abortion remains severely restricted in five European countries. In addition, seven countries have adopted restrictive laws that create additional barriers: Hungary, Armenia, Georgia, Italy, Moldova, Poland, and Russia.
At present, more than forty countries have legalized abortion on demand, at least in the early stages of pregnancy. At the same time, however, there are four countries – Albania, Hungary, the Netherlands, and Switzerland – where abortion on demand is formally permitted, but women must state the reason why they are requesting it. Typically, these are social or family reasons, or the pregnant person must prove that their pregnancy is causing psychological distress. Such requirements have a stigmatizing effect. Five other countries – Andorra (complete abortion ban), Malta, Liechtenstein, Poland, and Monaco – do not allow abortion on demand for broader socio-economic reasons.
Data also show that restrictive laws do not reduce women’s need to seek abortion care.
Instead, they make it harder to access care that is timely, affordable, and safe. Moreover, these restrictions do not affect all women equally: they disproportionately affect those who are experiencing serious financial hardship, violence, are minors, live in remote or rural areas, are single mothers, or have refugee status. Where abortion on demand is not legal, women are forced to seek alternative solutions – often less safe procedures, which expose them to serious human rights violations. Available data show that access to abortion on demand directly contributes to reducing pregnancy- and childbirth-related morbidity and mortality among women.
Most countries allow access to abortion (except for Andorra) in situations where the woman’s life or health is at risk, with health being understood broadly in many cases, not only as physical health, but also mental health. Four European countries – Andorra, Liechtenstein, Malta, and Poland – are the only ones that do not allow abortion even in cases of severe fetal impairment incompatible with life.
The World Health Organization and international human rights organizations state that the criminalization of abortion violates human rights, contributes to gender discrimination, and limits access to timely and safe healthcare. In European countries, healthcare providers can be prosecuted if they perform an abortion outside the legally permitted time limit or without meeting the specified conditions. However, these provisions are becoming increasingly rare and are more likely to be remnants of older, stricter regimes.
Twenty-nine European countries do not criminalize women who undergo abortion outside the conditions stipulated by law. At the same time, there is a growing trend towards removing criminal sanctions (or penalties) for such acts. Nevertheless, in twenty countries, women continue to face various forms of punishment for abortions performed outside the legal framework, ranging from fines to imprisonment.
Mandatory waiting periods are among the barriers that affect access to abortion.
Those are still in place in fourteen countries. Another barrier is mandatory counseling for women who want to have an abortion. Whereas in sixteen countries, counseling is mandatory, in others, it is voluntary. Even where counseling is formally available, it can be biased and conducted to discourage women from having an abortion (for example, in Germany, Georgia, and Hungary).
In most countries, there is a legally established period during which abortion is available on request (usually up to approximately 10 to 14 weeks of pregnancy). The current trend is towards a gradual extension of this period
Some states provide abortion care free of charge or cover it through public health insurance. However, even in these cases, access may be limited for women who have come to the country as migrants and are not fully entitled to covered care.
In most European countries, minors are required to obtain the consent of a legal guardian before undergoing an abortion. However, in some countries, this model is changing; the consent of the biological parent is not required, but the consent of an adult chosen by the minor is sufficient. This approach is in line with the recommendations of the World Health Organization.
Neither Slovakia nor Hungary currently offer medical (“pill”) abortion, even though this method is recommended by the World Health Organization as safe and effective, especially in the early stages of pregnancy. Even in countries where medical (pill) abortion is permitted, its availability is often limited in terms of time, making it a limited option.
It is recommended that the legislative bodies:
- legalize abortion on request and repeal restrictive provisions that limit this access;
- decriminalize abortion so that women and healthcare providers are not subject to criminal prosecution;
- remove mandatory waiting periods and mandatory counseling;
- ensure that abortion care is affordable, ideally covered by health insurance.
- reform restrictive time limits for abortion on request and extend the period during which the procedure is available.
- guarantee access to medical (pill) abortion in accordance with World Health Organization recommendations;
- make abortion care available to minors in a manner consistent with human rights standards;
- remove requirements for third-party approval of abortion (e.g., mandatory consent from more than one doctor or mandatory consent from a legal guardian where this is not medically justified);
- ensure that women who decide to have an abortion are not subjected to intimidation, coercion, or violence.
Read the full study here:
