The right to abortion must be preserved: petition to the Cabinet of Ministers gathers signatures

A petition to the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine calls for preserving women’s right to reproductive choice and preventing a total ban on abortion at their request. Signatures for electronic petition No. 41/011263-26ep began to be collected on November 11. At the same time, its authors propose expanding financial and social support for motherhood and families with children. According to petition.kmu.gov.ua.

The petition is open for signatures for 90 days. As of November 13, it had received 10,732 signatures out of the required 25,000.

The petition’s authors insist that the decision whether to continue a pregnancy should rest with the woman herself. In their view, forcing someone to carry an unwanted pregnancy violates personal freedom, dignity, and bodily integrity. They also argue that a total ban on abortion would not eliminate unwanted pregnancies, but could instead increase the number of illegal and unsafe procedures and pose an additional threat to women’s health and lives.

Another argument in the petition is that Ukraine is a secular state. The authors oppose legislative decisions based solely on the religious beliefs of certain social groups.

The petition makes the following demands of the government regarding reproductive rights:

• Refrain from supporting initiatives aimed at a total ban on abortion at a woman’s request.
• Keep the statutory right to voluntary pregnancy termination within the time limits established by law.
• Do not introduce criminal liability for women who decide to terminate a pregnancy.
• Guarantee access to safe pregnancy termination and post-abortion medical care.
• Preserve the option of terminating a pregnancy at later stages on the grounds provided for by law.
• Make modern contraception and reproductive medicine accessible.

A separate proposal is a comprehensive state program to support motherhood, fatherhood, and families with children. It would include:

• Increasing financial assistance for the birth and upbringing of children.
• Housing support for families.
• Affordable kindergartens and nurseries.
• Protection for mothers against workplace discrimination.
• Expanding medical and psychological support.

The authors emphasize that their position is not aimed at opposing motherhood or having children. They call for combining a woman’s right to make her own decision about pregnancy with the development of state support for families.

Another petition has also been submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers, proposing a ban on abortion at a woman’s request at any stage of pregnancy.

You can read and sign the petition calling for reproductive choice to be preserved on the government portal petition.kmu.gov.ua: https://petition.kmu.gov.ua/petitions/11263

Earlier, we reported:

• Ukraine seeks to ban abortion at a woman’s request: signatures being collected on the Cabinet of Ministers’ website
• Illegal abortion without a license: medical negligence nearly cost a woman her life
• The state is increasing child benefits in 2026: all the details
• “Your uterus will start to rot”: how a resident of a Mykolaiv boarding school was forced to have an abortion
• “Hell for women”: Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal effectively bans abortion