The Center for Reproductive Rights has published a new Fact Sheet on “Mandatory Waiting Periods and Biased Counseling Requirements in Central and Eastern Europe: Restricting Access to Abortion, Undermining Human Rights, and Reinforcing Harmful Gender Stereotypes”. The Fact Sheet presents a comparative overview of the concerning retrogressive trend in abortion law and policy across Central and Eastern Europe and examines how and why these barriers contravene international human rights standards and the World Health Organization’s guidelines on safe abortion. It also captures the ways in which these barriers embody harmful gender stereotypes. The Fact Sheet was launched at a briefing on Retrogressive Barriers to Abortion in Central and Eastern Europe for the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. The briefing was convened by the Center in November. ASTRA members from Hungary, Latvia, and Macedonia along with speakers from Slovakia and the UK participated in the briefing and spoke about the introduction and negative impact of these retrogressive barriers on women’s access to legal abortion services.

The Fact Sheet is currently only available in English but will soon be translated into a number of additional languages. Hard copies of the Fact Sheet can be requested from the Center for Reproductive Rights.

Source: Center for Reproductive Rights