Access to abortion in Europe: stopping anti-choice harassment
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- Text
adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of
the Assembly, on 31 May 2022 (see Doc. 15459, report of the Committee on Equality and Non-Discrimination,
rapporteur: Ms Margreet De Boer).
1. People who are committed to protecting
access to free and safe abortions are subject to harassment by anti-choice
activists in many Council of Europe member States. Targets include
women’s human rights defenders, healthcare professionals, politicians
and people seeking abortion care.
2. Harassment may occur in various forms. People seeking an abortion
experience stigmatisation, biased counselling based on inaccurate
and misleading information, psychological pressure and manipulation
of guilt and shame, including at or near facilities providing abortion
care. Such harassment is perpetrated by anti-choice individuals
and organisations that sometimes deceitfully represent themselves
as governmental or pro-choice entities. Pro-choice activists, movements
and non-governmental organisations face intimidation, online and
offline abuse, smear campaigns and judicial harassment in the form
of ungrounded or disproportionate civil or criminal law procedures.
Healthcare professionals face intimidation and threats, including
death threats, verbal and physical violence and undue pressure in
the workplace from peers and superiors. Facilities providing abortion
healthcare or information and pro-choice organisations are the targets
of trespassing and property damage. There have also been allegations
of police violence and arbitrary detentions in connection with demonstrations
in defence of women’s rights.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly refers to its
Resolution 2331 (2020) “Empowering
women: promoting access to contraception in Europe” and reiterates
that the protection of women’s sexual and reproductive health and
rights, which are human rights and an important part of gender equality
policies, should be given high priority.
4. The Assembly is concerned by the harassment and violence that
targets those who are entitled to such rights, including people
seeking abortion care and those who have a duty to offer it, as
well as women’s human rights defenders speaking out for the right
to abort.
5. The Assembly denounces anti-choice harassment as a violation
of fundamental rights set forth in national and international law,
including the right to respect for private and family life, freedom
of expression and freedom of assembly and association. This harassment
may also be regarded as part of the wider attack on women’s rights
and gender equality at global level that should be effectively countered.
6. The Assembly recalls that the right to health includes a right
to health-related information and considers it essential for the
realisation of this right that Council of Europe member States counteract
misinformation and disinformation on the topic of abortion.
7. The Assembly highlights that anti-choice harassment hinders
the right to free and safe abortion, as stipulated in the legislation
of most Council of Europe member States, as well as access to sexual
and reproductive health and rights. This erodes the certainty of
the law, a crucial element of the rule of law, which public authorities
have a duty to protect.
8. The Assembly emphasises that the denial of abortion care may
constitute torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and
it underlines the importance of the absolute prohibition of torture
and other forms of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.
9. It is therefore crucial to act both at an individual and a
general level, that is, to prevent, investigate and counter individual
cases of harassment and to adopt effective legislation and policies
to address the broader issue.
10. In the light of these considerations, the Assembly calls on
Council of Europe member States, observers and partners for democracy
to:
10.1 take the necessary measures
to ensure that obstructing a person’s access to legal abortion care or
to relevant information is prohibited and criminally or otherwise
sanctioned; the prohibited conduct should include online activities
and prohibit anti-choice organisations from misrepresenting themselves as
neutral or pro-choice organisations;
10.2 introduce buffer zones near to reproductive healthcare
facilities and any organisation providing relevant information,
so as to avoid disruption of the activities of medical institutions
providing abortion care and ensure the safety of people seeking
abortion care; within the buffer zones, all anti-choice information
and awareness-raising activities and protests should be prohibited,
whether aimed at the public or at individuals;
10.3 provide reliable information on reproductive rights and
services, including abortion care, and take the necessary measures
to counteract misinformation and disinformation on abortion; these
measures should include specific monitoring to detect the possible
spread of misinformation and disinformation, openly or covertly,
by anti-choice organisations;
10.4 empower people to make informed choices by ensuring that
evidence-based, medically accurate, non-judgmental information about
abortion care is available online and offline, notably through information
campaigns and comprehensive sexuality education; ensure that comprehensive
sexuality education is provided in all schools; curriculums should
cover sexual and reproductive health and rights, including contraception
and abortion;
10.5 ensure effective access to legal abortion care, when provided
for by national legislation, and relevant counselling by qualified
healthcare professionals who provide objective information; conscientious
objection, where legal, should never restrict actual and timely
access to legal abortion care;
10.6 train healthcare professionals to provide information
and care related to abortion in an evidence-based, unbiased, non-judgmental,
respectful, confidential manner; protect healthcare professionals
who provide abortion care from verbal or physical threats or attacks
and from any pressure or retaliation, including at the professional
level;
10.7 effectively investigate and prosecute online and offline
hate speech targeting human rights defenders, including the possibility
it is organised, and endeavour to prevent and counter networks of individuals
and organisations created with the aim of harassing pro-choice activists
and politicians as well as people seeking an abortion;
10.8 provide information and training to law-enforcement officers
and members of the judiciary to ensure that they have a knowledge
of the extent and impact of anti-choice activities.
11. Recalling its adopted texts on the situation of human rights
defenders in Europe, including
Resolution 2095 (2016) and
Recommendation 2085 (2016) “Strengthening
the protection and role of human rights defenders in Council of
Europe member States”, and
Resolution
2225 (2018) and
Recommendation
2133 (2018) “Protecting human rights defenders in Council
of Europe member States”, the Assembly reiterates its constant support
for women’s human rights defenders, in Council of Europe member
States and beyond, and undertakes to protect them from undue pressure,
intimidation and violence. In the present context, particular attention
must be paid to online hate speech, which increasingly targets human
rights defenders, making them vulnerable to further attacks.
