Abortion: Strange misappropriation of European social funds by the Commission
On 26th February 2026, the European Commission stated that European Union member states who so wish could use European social funds to fund abortions for women who experience access difficulties in another European Union state.
The statement was issued in response to the European Citizen’s Initiative (ECI) “My voice, my choice” which demands access to abortion throughout Europe. ECI is a tool intended to enable European Union citizens to call upon the Commission to propose a new legislative text if the initiative can collect at least a million signatures from a quarter of the member States. The ” My voice, my choice” initiative achieved 1.1 million signatures and was submitted to the Commission for consideration on 1st September 2025. The European Commission has to examine the request without necessarily having to adopt it. The states being targeted in particular are Malta and Poland which have more restrictive legislations than the other European states.
Absence of European competence
The European Parliament had already adopted a controversial resolution on 17th December 2025 calling for the Commission to respond to the request by the Initiative for a special European fund to finance abortions.
In fact, the matter of abortion is not of European competence. The Commission recognises the fact but nevertheless proposes that those states who so wish could allow such abortions on their soil in accordance with their own legislation. Through that decision it admits the possibility of using European funds to finance abortions on the strength of “equal access to healthcare services”.
Misappropriation of European social funds
The European Social Fund Plus (FSE+) is “The main instrument available to the European Union (EU) for investing in human capital and supporting the implementation of the European base for social rights. With a budget of 142.7 billion euros for the 2021-2027 period”, FSE+ provides “a major contribution to EU policies on social matters, employment, education and competences and to structural reforms in those fields”.
Prevention and support for women yet again swept aside
Hadja Lahbib, the commissioner for equality, preparedness and crisis management referred to “women confronting high vulnerability situations”. However, any idea of support for pregnant women or abortion prevention were not mentioned.
In 2024 the European Parliament adopted a non-constraining resolution aimed at registering abortion in the European Union charter of fundamental rights. A vote totally out of step with the European reality, as pointed out by the authors of an alternative resolution: “The charter establishes values which are common to European member states which are shared universally by EU citizens, whereas the right to abortion remains a controversial subject, on which EU societies hold varied points of view and on which the member states provide varied political solutions and divergent legal frameworks”.
In that context, they were calling for a policy on abortion prevention and on economic and social support for pregnant women.
Suivez-nous sur les réseaux sociaux :
