Women deserve the right to bodily autonomy because sexual and reproductive rights are fundamental to ensuring gender-based equality, EU Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli said on Monday. 

Marking international safe abortion day, Dalli was speaking at a roundtable discussion organised by the European trade union of Public Service Workers.

She said that throughout the pandemic, she had listened to the plight of women who have had their health care interrupted or have had access to sexual and reproductive care, including gynaecological appointments, fertility treatment and contraceptives stopped completely. 

“I think all women can relate to these stories in some way that further highlights the need to safeguard autonomous human rights and autonomous choice. It’s not just about abortion but it is about autonomy,” Dalli said. 

“Women across Europe deserve equal rights and access to safe, legal and accessible sexual and reproductive rights, no matter what their background is.”

While noting that challenges to these rights were becoming a concern across the EU, she stressed that regulatory powers on sexual and reproductive health services, including abortion, lie with member states.

“However, the Commission recalls that when making use of their competencies, member states must respect fundamental rights,” she said.

“All people across the EU should enjoy the same rights to safe legal and accessible reproductive health care. We must address the stigma related to abortion by changing how we talk about sexual and reproductive rights - they are at the very core of physical and mental wellbeing of all people.”

Malta is the only EU member state to retain a complete ban on abortion and women caught terminating a pregnancy face up to three years in jail. 

Earlier this year, foreign abortion support charities said they experienced a surge of Maltese women requesting abortion pills during the COVID-19 lockdown.