The COVID19 pandemic is hitting hard women and girls hard in Europe. Not only because they are often overrepresented in professions with a high risk of infection, or because they have been more exposed to gender-based violence. Some of the measures adopted to contain the spread of the coronavirus are undermining women and girls’ sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Access to abortion care has been difficult for women in some European countries for years. Lockdowns and travel restrictions have worsened this situation, especially for women and girls who live in the few European states, like Malta, where abortion is illegal or severely restricted and who now cannot travel abroad to seek assistance and care. But even in states where abortion is legal, pre-existing obstacles such mandatory waiting periods and counselling, unnecessary hospitalisation, widespread refusals of care on grounds of conscience and the limited use of medical abortion pills, may hinder access to time-sensitive services.
Access to contraception has also been hindered. Barriers already in place before the pandemic, including the high cost of contraception in some countries, are even more difficult to overcome in these times of economic restrictions and limited freedom of movement.
