We defend “My Voice, My Choice”!
By Anna Camposampiero, Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (IT), Member of the EL Executive Board
The My Voice, My Choice campaign is one of the most significant European Citizens’ Initiatives (ECI) in recent years. Launched in April 2024, it seeks to establish a European framework ensuring safe, legal, and accessible abortion for everyone in the European Union, regardless of where they live.
As an instrument of direct democracy enshrined in the EU treaties, an ECI that gathers more than one million valid signatures from at least seven Member States formally obliges the European Commission to examine the proposal and provide a response.
The campaign has achieved an unprecedented result: in one year over 1.2 million signatures were collected throughout Europe, involving 20 countries of the European Union, of which 12 have exceeded the required quorum, thanks to the commitment of organizations and numerous feminist and civil rights organizations (in order of the number of signatures collected, the countries that have exceeded the quorum are: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, Poland, Croatia, Slovenia, Greece, Finland, Portugal, Belgium, the Netherlands). It is a campaign that mobilized volunteers through stands, local initiatives and digital campaigns, also reminding us that rights acquired by some are privileges for others.
The collection of signatures closed in April 2025, reaching the required quorum and on 17 December 2025 the European Parliament adopted a political resolution inspired by the “My Voice, My Choice” initiative. Thanks to the work of the campaign, it was voted with 358 votes in favour, 202 against and 79 abstentions – a political operation that makes the action of the campaign and the next stage in the Commission even more incisive.
The success in the European Parliament (The Left group in the European Parliament voted unanimously in favour of the resolution) has not prevented protests and political attacks by conservative and anti-abortion forces, even at the national level.
Just to be clear: the ECI proposal does not aim to directly change national laws (as the right instrumentally claims) nor could it do so. Rather, it invites the European Commission to propose a voluntary solidarity mechanism funded by the EU to support those who do not have access to safe and legal procedures in their country, especially due to regulatory restrictions or practical barriers. This must be stated clearly, given that some groups – such as the Polish think tank Ordo Iuris – contest the competences of the European Union in the field of national legislation.
There have also been forms of symbolic opposition such as the anti-abortion banner unfurled by the European Conservatives group inside the EU Parliament with the slogan “It’s a life, not a choice”, using the usual language that undermines women’s right to self-determination. These attacks are part of a broader context of “backlash” against gender policies and reproductive rights in many parts of Europe, where conservative and anti-gender movements seek to counter progressive advances on self-determination and sexual rights. There is even a petition circulating – using words such as “scandalous and macabre initiative” – inviting people to write to MEPs and members of the European Commission to block the campaign.