Overview
- The Commission issued its formal response on 26 February 2026 to the 'My Voice, My Choice' initiative, declining to propose a new EU legal instrument despite over 1.1 million signatures.
- Member states may use European Social Fund Plus financing to support access to safe abortion services, subject to national law and voluntary uptake.
- Countries that opt in may need to modify their national or regional ESF+ programmes to include actions supporting abortion access.
- The response frames unsafe abortion as a public‑health concern and cites WHO estimates of about 483,000 unsafe abortions in Europe each year.
- The initiative sought a cross‑border financial solidarity mechanism; the Commission’s approach leaves implementation to individual governments, as some EU leaders urge concrete guidance on how to apply it.