Hungary eases abortion restrictions in women's rights overhaul

Hungary on Thursday said it would ease abortion rules and ratify an international treaty on violence against women. 

Under the planned changes to the so-called "heartbeat regulation," women will no longer be forced to listen to the vital signs of the fetus before an abortion.

Women will also be able to get emergency contraceptive pills without prescription. 

The changes proposed by the new government under Prime Minister Peter Magyar are a significant break with the conservative policies of his predecessor Viktor Orban. 

The country also plans to ratify the Istanbul Convention, a treaty aimed at preventing violence against women and domestic violence. 

Hungary to end controversial 'fetal heartbeat' policy 

Hungarian law allows for most abortions to be performed up to 12 weeks, and up to 24 weeks in cases of severe developmental abnormalities. Until now, women were required to have a medical provider show them evidence of a definitive sign of fetal life, commonly understood as the so-called "fetal heartbeat," before deciding whether to have an abortion. 

The controversial 2022 policy had received widespread criticism from doctors and women’s rights groups as being cruel and humiliating. It will now be scrapped. 

The policy had not led to a decline in abortions and according to Magyar, had raised "serious bioethical questions."

The second major change is that emergency contraception will be available without prescription. 

Further measures include changing the criminal code aimed at better protecting women, including making the misuse of intimate images a criminal offense and strengthening the treatment of victims of domestic violence during criminal proceedings.  

What is the Istanbul Convention?

Hungary also plans to ratify an international treaty on the protection of women which most other EU members have long ratified. The Istanbul Convention came into force in 2014 and, among other things, requires rape to be criminalized based on the absence of freely given consent. 

"We are making it clear that sexual acts can only ⁠take ​place with the voluntary consent of the other party," ​Magyar said.

The government of his predecessor Orban had opposed the treaty, arguing that it promoted what it described as "gender ideology."

"We are making a clear and accountable commitment to putting an end to the era of inaction," Magyar said in a Facebook video. 

Among the EU’s other members, only Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Lithuania and Slovakia have not yet ratified the convention. 

The Istanbul Convention is a treaty by the Council of Europe, an international organization that promotes human rights and the rule of law across Europe and includes more countries than the member of the EU.