Abortion laws in Europe vary sharply from one country to the next: most permit the procedure on request during early pregnancy with cutoffs somewhere between 10 and 24 weeks, a smaller group allows it only on broad health or social grounds, and five countries prohibit it in nearly all circumstances. Because the European Union does not regulate healthcare, each country writes its own rules, and the differences can be dramatic across a single border. Penalties for operating outside those rules exist almost everywhere, even in countries with liberal access.
Three Tiers of Access
European abortion laws generally fall into three categories based on how much justification a person needs.
The most common model is abortion on request, meaning no specific reason is required within the legal time window. France, Germany, Sweden, Denmark, Greece, Belgium, the Netherlands, Portugal, and many others follow some version of this approach. In France, any pregnant person can request the procedure from a doctor or midwife with no obligation to explain why.1French Government. Abortion Information Guide
A smaller group uses broad social or health grounds. Specific reasons are technically required, but they are interpreted loosely enough that most requests are approved. The United Kingdom is the clearest example. The Abortion Act 1967 requires two registered medical practitioners to certify that continuing the pregnancy would pose a greater risk to the physical or mental health of the pregnant person than ending it, and in practice most abortions in England and Wales are approved on that ground.2Legislation.gov.uk. Abortion Act 1967 – Section 1
At the other end, Poland, Malta, Andorra, Liechtenstein, and Monaco permit abortion only in narrow circumstances or not at all.
Gestational Limits Country by Country
For countries that allow abortion on request, the key number is how many weeks the law gives you, measured from the last menstrual period. Twelve weeks has traditionally been the most common cutoff, and Greece, Belgium, and Austria still use it. The recent trend has been to extend the window.
France raised its on-request limit from 12 to 14 weeks in March 2022.1French Government. Abortion Information Guide Denmark moved from 12 to 18 weeks in April 2025, matching Sweden, which has permitted abortion through the 18th week for decades.31177. Abortion The Netherlands allows the procedure through approximately 24 weeks, with the precise limit set by viability standards at individual clinics. The United Kingdom permits abortion up to 24 weeks under the broad health grounds described above, and after 24 weeks only where there is a risk of grave permanent injury to the pregnant person or serious fetal abnormality.2Legislation.gov.uk. Abortion Act 1967 – Section 1 The 24-week cutoff was set in 1990, when Parliament lowered it from 28 weeks to reflect the medical consensus on fetal viability.4GOV.UK. Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2021
Beyond the on-request window, most countries still allow later abortions on medical grounds. Sweden requires approval from the National Board of Health and Welfare for procedures after 18 weeks, generally reserved for serious health situations.31177. Abortion So the headline number is rarely a hard wall, but the approval process past it is significantly more involved.
Countries With Near-Total Bans
Five European countries maintain highly restrictive laws.
Poland’s restrictions are the most recent flashpoint. Until October 2020, Polish law allowed abortion in three situations: risk to the pregnant person’s life or health, pregnancy resulting from a crime, and severe fetal abnormality. The Constitutional Tribunal then struck down the fetal abnormality exception, which had accounted for the vast majority of legal abortions. Legal abortions performed inside Poland have since dropped to near zero, and thousands of residents travel abroad each year.
Malta banned abortion entirely until June 2023, when parliament introduced a narrow exception for situations where the pregnant person faces an immediate risk to life from a medical complication and the fetus has not reached viability. Even that exception requires a team of three specialists, two of them gynecologists, to sign off. Outside that scenario, performing an abortion in Malta carries 18 months to three years in prison for the provider and potentially the same for the patient.
Andorra prohibits abortion completely, with no exceptions written into law. Residents travel to France or Spain. Liechtenstein and Monaco also fall into this most restrictive category.
Waiting Periods and Mandatory Counseling
Around a dozen European countries require a mandatory delay between an initial consultation and the procedure. Belgium requires six days.5Vrije Universiteit Brussel. How Does an Abortion Work? Italy requires seven days, during which the physician conducts a counseling session and issues a signed document that is a prerequisite for the follow-up appointment.6Istituto Superiore di Sanità. Voluntary Termination of Pregnancy Germany imposes a three-day wait after counseling that must take place at a different facility from the one performing the procedure.
The counseling content varies. Some countries require only neutral medical information about the procedure and its risks. Others mandate that the counselor discuss alternatives, including adoption and financial support for continuing the pregnancy. A few have been criticized for requiring what amounts to biased counseling designed to discourage the decision.
These requirements are strictly enforced. Showing up without the correct documentation from the first appointment means the procedure will not go ahead that day. Reproductive health advocates argue the delays push people closer to gestational limits; supporters say the reflection period protects against decisions made under temporary pressure.
Penalties for Breaking the Rules
Criminal penalties for performing an abortion outside the legal framework exist in virtually every European country, including those with permissive access laws. The severity varies.
In Poland, performing an abortion outside the narrow legal exceptions carries up to three years in prison for the provider. The law targets the person performing the procedure rather than the pregnant person. Ireland, despite legalizing abortion in 2018, kept criminal penalties of up to 14 years for providers who operate outside the legal parameters.7PubMed Central. Abortion Policy Implementation in Ireland: Lessons From the First Three Years Malta’s criminal code prescribes 18 months to four years for medical professionals who knowingly assist in an unlawful termination.
Even in countries with liberal access laws, violating gestational limits or skipping mandatory procedural steps like waiting periods or counseling documentation can trigger professional sanctions. Medical professionals found in breach may lose their license, face fines, or both. This is why clinics are meticulous about paperwork: a missing certificate or an incorrectly dated form can expose both patient and provider to legal risk.
The trend among countries that have recently liberalized is to decriminalize the act for the pregnant person while keeping penalties for providers who operate outside the rules. Germany is an unusual case: abortion is still technically classified as unlawful in the criminal code, but carries no punishment in the first 12 weeks provided the person attends mandatory counseling and observes a three-day waiting period. A government-appointed expert commission recommended in 2024 that the procedure be fully decriminalized during the first trimester, though legislation has not followed.
Conscientious Objection and Cross-Border Travel
The law on the books is only part of what access actually looks like. Most European countries that permit abortion also let individual healthcare workers refuse to participate on moral or religious grounds. Italy shows how far that can go: as of 2022, roughly 65% of Italian gynecologists, 45% of anesthetists, and 36% of other relevant healthcare personnel had registered as conscientious objectors, and in parts of southern Italy the gynecologist objection rate exceeds 80%.8National Center for Biotechnology Information. “To Be or Not to Be” a Conscientious Objector to Voluntary Abortion Even where the law allows the procedure, accessing it can require traveling to another city or region.
To keep objection from blocking access entirely, most countries impose obligations on objecting providers. Norway’s health ministry clarified in 2011 that general practitioners cannot refuse to refer patients to abortion services, and Norwegian women can bypass the GP and self-refer. England, Norway, and Portugal have been identified as countries where the system accommodates individual objectors while still keeping the procedure functionally available.9PubMed Central. Regulation of Conscientious Objection to Abortion Objection also does not apply in emergencies: when the pregnant person’s life is in danger, no provider can refuse to treat.
For people in countries with near-total bans, the primary route to care is traveling abroad. Polish residents most often go to the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, or Slovakia. Maltese residents typically travel to the United Kingdom or Italy. Andorrans cross into France or Spain. EU freedom of movement makes the travel itself straightforward in most cases, but it adds financial and logistical barriers that fall hardest on lower-income people. Residents of countries where abortion is legal usually receive it free through national health systems; non-residents generally pay out of pocket. Organizations like the Abortion Support Network help people cover travel, accommodation, and clinic costs.10Abortion Support Network. Need to Travel for an Abortion?
Rules for Minors
European countries take different approaches to whether minors need parental permission. In France, minors can access the procedure without parental consent, and a minor who wants to keep the matter confidential can designate any adult of her choosing to accompany her.11European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. Accessing Abortion Services Spain amended its law to allow 16- and 17-year-olds to obtain an abortion without parental consent. In other countries, the age at which a minor can consent on her own is typically 16 or 18, with parental notification or consent required below that threshold.
Where parental consent is impossible or would put the minor at risk, many legal systems offer a judicial bypass. A judge or administrative body can authorize the procedure if it is in the minor’s best interest, and these proceedings are typically expedited so the minor does not run up against gestational limits while waiting.
Recent Legal Changes
The map has moved considerably over the past decade, mostly toward expanded access.
On March 8, 2024, France became the first country in the world to enshrine abortion access in its constitution. The amendment to Article 34 provides that French law must guarantee the conditions under which a woman exercises her freedom to have an abortion. The joint session of Congress passed it 780 to 72.
Ireland’s shift was even more dramatic. Abortion had been constitutionally banned since 1983 under the Eighth Amendment. In May 2018, Irish voters repealed that amendment by 66.4% to 33.6%. The Health (Regulation of Termination of Pregnancy) Act 2018 took effect that December, permitting abortion on request up to 12 weeks and after that point for risks to life or health or in cases of fatal fetal abnormality.7PubMed Central. Abortion Policy Implementation in Ireland: Lessons From the First Three Years San Marino followed a similar path in 2021, when voters in the microstate approved a referendum legalizing abortion on request through 12 weeks. Denmark’s 2025 move from 12 to 18 weeks was the most recent expansion.
What the European Court of Human Rights Requires
The European Court of Human Rights does not require countries to legalize abortion, but it does police how fairly and consistently they apply whatever laws they have. Its approach rests on the “margin of appreciation” doctrine, which gives national governments significant discretion over morally sensitive questions.
The leading case is A, B and C v. Ireland (2010). The court acknowledged that the question of when life begins is deeply sensitive and that states deserve wide latitude in answering it. At the same time, it found that Ireland had violated Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights because it failed to provide an accessible procedure for determining whether a woman qualified for the existing life-saving exception. A country can restrict abortion, but it cannot make its own exceptions impossible to use in practice. Vague laws, bureaucratic obstacles, and provider refusals that render legal exceptions unreachable can all trigger a human rights violation under the convention. The court has not, however, recognized a general right to abortion under European human rights law.