01 Jul Resolution adopted: Empowering women: promoting access to contraception in Europe
Posted at 16:03h
in General
The Council of Europe’s Parliamentary Assembly just adopted Resolution 2331 (2020)
“Empowering women: promoting access to contraception in Europe”.
The Assembly calls on Council of Europe members and observer States to:
As regards the response to the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Consider access to contraception including emergency contraception as essential health care services to be maintained during the crisis and take all necessary accompanying measures to guarantee the provision of and access to such services;
- Guarantee access without discrimination to sexual and reproductive healthcare services and facilitate it, including by authorising telephone and online consultations and access to contraception without prescription, particularly in the case of the restriction of people’s movement in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic; and maintain in force such measures, in so far as possible, after the end of the health crisis
As regards access to contraception:
10.2.1. ensure that all modern methods of contraception, including emergency contraception without prescription, are made available to the public, including in rural and remote areas and to marginalised and vulnerable groups;
10.2.2. ensure the affordability of contraceptive methods by including them in national health insurance schemes with adequate reimbursement or subsidisation;
10.2.3. develop specific reimbursement or subsidisation schemes for young, low-income and vulnerable groups, with a view to countering economic barriers that determine unequal access to contraception and review such schemes regularly to ensure their effectiveness;
10.2.4. provide affordable, confidential and non-judgmental individual counselling to those seeking contraception with a view to providing users with all the necessary and personalised information, including the choice of the contraceptive methods best suited to their needs, and to reviewing that choice when needed;
10.2.5. provide mandatory training on contraception both at post-graduate level and as refresher courses for healthcare professionals, as well as regular information on relevant scientific evidence;
10.2.6. develop evidence-based guidelines for healthcare professionals on modern contraception, based on the standards set by the World Health Organisation;
10.2.7. ensure that access to contraception is individualised and based on the person’s needs, not on their legal gender marker;
See full Resolution 2331 (2020)