Combatting regressive abortion bill in Slovakia
Why are we doing the action
The Slovak parliament is currently discussing a regressive abortion bill which would be undermining women’s rights and well-being. Its aim is to restrain women’s access to abortion by putting into place a series of restraints which would be delaying access to abortion and encourage women to have recourse to alternative options that could put their lives at risk. Currently, the allowance to get an abortion in Slovakia is 12 weeks. By passing the bill, this allowance will be seriously delayed and costly. Considering the urgency of the situation, we are planning on protesting against the passing of this bill through an online protest which will be undertaken on social media such as Instagram and Facebook. By targeting key actors in the decision making, we are hoping to alter the final outcome and get the bill dropped. In order to achieve this, this action will require mobilisation throughout Europe.
The vote is likely to take place on MONDAY 28th SEPTEMBER.
Campaign Background
In November 2019, the National Council of the Slovak Republic (Slovak parliament) debated a regressive bill that attempted to force women seeking an abortion to view an ultrasound scan of the embryo or foetus. This would have constituted a violation of women’s decision making and a threat to their well-being as it aimed at biasing their ultimate decision by making them go through a degrading and traumatising treatment. In addition, OLANO, which has been at the head of the government since March this year, is trying to push the degradation of women’s integrity by proposing the currently debated regressive bill as part of a series of reforms of the Slovak healthcare system. The key features of the bill constitute a privacy violation of the women seeking an abortion and make them go through a humiliating process that could deter them from getting the abortion legally.
The key features are the following:
– An extension of the current mandatory waiting period from 48h to 96h (unless the person’s health or life is at risk), which would increase delays to get access to abortion.
– Onerous authorisation requests that include getting two medical certificates from doctors working in different facilities. Abortion would become an expensive service for women with less means and also limit women living in rural areas.
– Disclosure of private information as women seeking an abortion would have to give reasons for wanting an abortion (other than health motives) and keep providing information during the process such as their situation at home. This particular feature of the bill would put at risk women victims of domestic abuse but also minors that would have to tell their parents about the process.
– Ban on the so called “advertising” which would consist in limiting (or stopping) the spread of information on services and goods that can be provided when it comes to terminating a pregnancy. The lack of information on this important issue could affect women’s decision making and limit their capacity to exercise control over their own bodies.
Short description of the action
Please send an email directly to the politicians to ask them to vote against the bill.
An example for a message could be:
Dear … [insert name],
I respectfully ask you, considering the attached open letter, to make every effort to ensure that the Slovak Parliament votes against the proposed bill to restrict access to abortion in your country.
Thank you in advance for your consideration.
kind regards
Please attach the open letter below to your email.
The primary targets for this action are:
Speaker of Parliament Mr. Boris Kollár (Sme): boris.kollar@nrsr.sk
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mr. Gábor Grendel (OLANO): gabor.grendel@nrsr.sk
Deputy Speaker of Parliament Mr. Juraj Šeliga (Za Ľudí): jurajseliga@nrsr.sk
Joint civil society letter abortion bill Slovakia
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