Across Europe, far-right political movements are increasingly targeting abortion rights through legislative obstruction and teh dissemination of misinformation, mirroring tactics recently employed in Spain. This coordinated effort, fueled by declining birth rates and demographic anxieties, seeks to curtail reproductive freedoms under the guise of protecting fetal life, but is widely understood as an attempt to control women’s bodies and bolster “native” populations.
The strategy centers on promoting emotionally charged rhetoric-such as falsely claiming a fully formed heartbeat exists very early in pregnancy-and introducing measures designed to make abortion access more tough. These include mandatory waiting periods, biased counseling, and increased regulation of abortion providers. Spain’s Vox party leader, Santiago Abascal, recently articulated a core tenet of this ideology, stating on november 2, 2024, ”Enough of talking about Spain needing immigrants. Spain needs birth rates, for Spaniards to be born.” This statement underscores a broader trend linking anti-immigration sentiment with pro-natalist policies.
The push for restrictions isn’t isolated. In Italy, the Brothers of Italy party, led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has openly advocated for measures to discourage abortion, while in France, Marine Le Pen’s National Rally has consistently opposed abortion rights. Similar movements are gaining traction in Germany, Poland, and Hungary, often framing abortion as a moral failing and a threat to national identity.
Experts point to a deliberate international strategy behind these efforts. The “fetal heartbeat” narrative, for example, originated in the United States and has been adopted by anti-abortion groups across Europe. This coordinated messaging, combined with the exploitation of demographic concerns, aims to create a climate of fear and distrust around abortion, ultimately leading to it’s restriction or outright ban. Declining birth rates across the European Union-with some countries facing potential population decline-have provided fertile ground for these arguments,notably among far-right parties who often promote nationalist and nativist ideologies.