Polish Minister of Justice, Zbigniew Ziobro, and Minister of Family, Labor and Social Policy, Marlena MalÄ…g, both announced that Poland will soon start the process of withdrawal from the Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence, also known as the Istanbul Convention. The current ruling party, Law and Justice, has […]
Slovak Parliament is set to start new session on 7 July, which is scheduled to run until 17 July. 4 new legislative proposals aimed at restricting access to abortion have been registered to be discussed and voted upon during the July session. The bills will be discussed in the first legislative reading and […]
Montenegro has become the first European country outside both Western Europe and the EU to legalise same-sex civil partnerships. A new bill passed on Wednesday gives same-sex couples equal legal rights as heterosexual ones except for child adoption. Forty-two MPs voted in favour of the law in the capital Podgorica, while five were against it. […]
Vying with Poland and Hungary, the Romanian Parliament adopted an amendment to the National Education Law seeking to prohibit information on gender identity in schools, universities and other educational spaces. The amendment positions gender as an ideological invention and bans “theories and opinion on gender where it is a separate concept from biological […]
Croatian politicians were left in no doubt about the strength of feeling on the subject of abortion in the country, after remarks in pre-election debates prompted a backlash visualised by perhaps the most defiant gestures of all – the middle finger. Miroslav Skoro of the Homeland Movement and Goran Jandrokovic of the ruling […]
Poland’s president, Andrzej Duda, has published a set of pledges to support Polish families if he wins a second term in elections later this month. Among his promises is to “defend children from LGBT ideologyâ€. Duda also promises to ensure that families remain safe (from threats such as domestic violence and pornography) and […]
On 4th June, thousands of people protested in the streets of Tirana. The protest, organised by a group of secondary school students, was a reaction to a rape of a 15-year old student, who was assaulted by a 65-year old former watchmen of the school she attended. Perpetrator filmed the assault and shared […]
At the beginning of 2019, Lithuanian Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists asked the State Commission on Drugs and Medicine Reimbursement  to provide reimbursement for hormonal contraception (hormonal IUD) for girls and young women of 15-20 years old. The proposal was based on intent to help young women avoid unwanted pregnancies, eliminate price barriers […]
  On 19 May 2020, following weeks of international outcry, the Hungarian Parliament voted 133 in favour, 57 opposed, to approve an omnibus bill, one article of which replaces the category of “sex†on the civil registry with one of “sex assigned at birthâ€. The article within the omnibus bill, Article 33, amends the civil registry […]
Today, Polish Parliament has voted on civic draft bills that (if introduced) would effectively ban abortion and criminalize sexuality education. The voting took place amidst COVID-19 outbreak, making it impossible to organise a street protest such as the famous Black Protest of 2016. Over half of the members of Polish Parliament voted against rejection […]
ASTRA, Central and Eastern European Network for Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights, stands in solidarity with Polish people that are currently facing a possibility of introducing both a total ban on abortion and criminalisation of comprehensive sexuality education in the country. We are already concerned with the state of reproductive and sexual […]
ASTRA Network has endorsed a joint civil society statement on COVID-19 and abortion in Europe. The statement, prepared by our long-time partner organisation Center for Reproductive Rights, was published today with endorsement of over 100 European organisations and coalitions. The document states: The COVID-19 pandemic and public health crisis is presenting grave challenges […]
ASTRA Secretariat
Federation for Women and Family Planning
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