News & Events

Coronavirus Created an Obstacle Course for Safe Abortions

25th June 2020

But during the pandemic, a few countries liberalized their requirements, allowing at-home medical terminations.

By Matina Stevis-Gridneff, Alisha Haridasani Gupta and Monika Pronczuk
June 14, 2020

BRUSSELS — When a 19-year-old woman from southern Poland decided to end her pregnancy at 18 weeks, she knew the only way to get an abortion was to rush to a neighboring European country.

Abortion is illegal in most circumstances in Poland, and so for years, many women have traveled within Europe to seek the procedure.

But it was April, and across the continent, borders were closing fast because of the coronavirus pandemic. So she and a friend loaded up their Renault with instant noodles and candy for a 14-hour race to Utrecht, in the Netherlands. They made it just in time for her to have the procedure and return home, her friend said.

Continued:  https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/14/world/europe/coronavirus-abortion-obstacles.html

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We are aware of the great difficulties that women who want to interrupt their pregnancy in Europe have to face. That’s why we invite you to share your experience with the project team. With your help, we will be able to improve the study and create a community useful information for all.

If you wish to share your experiences with difficulties accessing abortion care and/or abortion travel please use the form on the right.  

If you tick the box: “I consent to share my story with the research team for research purposes in the terms described on the left side”, researchers will use the story to analyse the barriers to access to safe, legal abortion that lead women to seek illegal abortion or travel to seek abortion care, and women’s experiences with that.

If you also tick the box: “I consent to publish my story in this section” we will anonymize your story and publish it in this section, with only your nickname and/or country (if provided). 

NOTE:
You may choose a nickname to avoid using your real name. We do not collect any personal data, but if you accidentally provide some personal data in your story, we will store this information in a protected file “Research, development and innovation projects with high-level personal data” at the University of Barcelona with the only purpose to anonymize your story by deleting any personal data, and then delete the original story you sent. We will only keep and eventually publish its anonymous version on this website ONLY IF you consent to your story being published by ticking the appropriate box above. Only researchers administering this website have access to its content.

The body responsible for the above file is the General Secretary of the University of Barcelona located on: Gran Via de les Corts Catalanes 585, 08007 Barcelona; email: secretaria.general@ub.edu. You have the right to access, and receive your data in a file (e.g. word, PDF) during the period of the study (5 years). You can also ask and obtain that researchers stop examining them  , and/or ask to correct or request your data to be deleted for up to six months after participating, by emailing your request to the project: bar2legab@ub.edu or to the principal investigator, Dr. Silvia De Zordo: silviadezordo@ub.edu. Please indicate your nickname in your email.

If you need information about this project, please contact us by writing to bar2legab@ub.edu
If you want to read your rights as a participant, visit our Research Ethics section

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    The researchers will review your story and published it (if you have agreed to it) one week after your submission. If you wish to cancel your submission, change your mind about participating, or simply ticked the wrong box when submitting your story, please write to the research team using the email address to the left.

    Europe Abortion Access Project Euroe Research Council Universitad de Barcelona

    This project has received funding from the European Reseach Council (ERC) under the European Union's Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme BAR2LEGAB-680004