Activists Say Romania Has Been Quietly Phasing Out Abortion

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Daniela Draghici in the living room of her apartment in Bucharest. Draghici is an abortion-rights advocate who served as a family planning program manager for a U.S.-funded Romanian nonprofit group from 1992 to 2002.

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Daniela Draghici holding her dog, Mini, while on a walk in the backyard of her apartment building in Bucharest.

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Andrada Cibiliu from the abortion-rights organization Centrul Filia at her home in Bucharest.

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Medical staff check an empty ward reserved for COVID-19 patients, at the Colentina Hospital in Bucharest, in February. The government initially excluded abortion from a list of essential emergency services.

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Cibiliu works at the office at Centrul Filia, an independent nonprofit feminist advocacy organization that fights against gender inequality.

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A 21-year-old Romanian woman says she had no one to turn to for help when she got pregnant in 2019.

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Draghici stands in her kitchen with a plant. She says she’s hopeful. «Our wins are slim at this time, but they’re there, says Draghici.

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Draghici stands in her kitchen with a plant. She says she’s hopeful. «Our wins are slim at this time, but they’re there, says Draghici.

Ioana Moldovan for NPR

«Thirty years later, we are faced with pretty much the discourse that we were faced with during Communism: Women should not have abortions and contraception is not secured by the Ministry of Health, says Draghici. «It’s ridiculous that we have to do [the work] all over again.

The Romanian Health Ministry declined to comment. Various anti-abortion organizations could not be reached for comment for this story; one group, Pro Vita Association, refused to comment, citing concerns of «pro-abortion and genderist bias.

In September 2020, after a Romanian woman died as a result of an unsafe abortion, the Health Ministry’s spokesperson, Oana Grigore, was criticized by activists for saying that the ministry «encourages pregnancies to be completed and does not encourage abortions.

But Draghici says she’s hopeful: In recent months, after many talks between abortion rights organizations and the government, the Health Ministry has promised to revive 100 family planning clinics and the Education Ministry has agreed to resume discussion to reinstate sex ed in schools.

«Our wins are slim at this time, but they’re there, says Draghici. «I don’t feel tired or discouraged. I keep doing it because many other people have just given up. But as an advocate, I know that the key message is: ‘Never give up.’ And that’s what I’m doing, I’m not giving up.

This reporting was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation.