“Real Choice Mean Real Support” – 15 October 2025 – Brussels
On Wednesday 15 October 2025, in the heart of the European Parliament, the One of Us European Federation gathered more than 300 people, members of civil society, leaders, majority of them young people. They gathered around women giving their testimony about abortion and difficult pregnancies, and 8 Members of the European Parliament, from two different parties: EPP and ECR. The 300 people came from all over 17 different European countries, to call for a “Real Support” for women: freedom of women and mother can only be real if, facing difficult pregnancy, they receive real support and help from family and society, and not abandonment.
Hosted by MEPs Peter Agius (EPP, Malta), Paolo Inselvini (ECR, Italy) and Laurence Trochu (ECR, France), the event brought together testimonies of women from Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Slovenia, and the Netherlands. Each shared a powerful personal story revealing the same reality: behind every abortion or pregnancy crisis, there is a woman in need of support.
“When a woman doesn’t want to abort, also deserves to be heard”, said Charlene, from France, a mother of three whose story moved the audience. “I had an abortion because no one listened to me. I was left alone in my anguish”, she followed. She shared the trauma of an abortion undergone under pressure: “At the IPPF clinic, they spoke of ‘my choice,’ yet I was never heard. I said no, but they pushed me anyway. In Europe, a woman who says, “I don’t want to abort” must be protected.”
From Spain, Leire denounced the institutional neglect faced by women who wish to continue their pregnancies: “Europe cannot call itself feminist while leaving pregnant women alone. The right to choose also means the right not to abort.” She continued: “Which kind of equality is there when a woman who wants to keep her baby is left alone? In Spain, 12 times more money is spent on abortion than on helping pregnant women.”
Soemia Sibillo, Director of the Mangiagalli Maternity Center in Milan, highlights the results of hundreds of Pregnancy Help Centers in Italy: “In forty years, [in Italy] more than 26,000 children have been born thanks to this help. No woman has ever regretted choosing life. Europe must transform this solidarity into a continental policy.” Europe needs to conjugate the “we” rather than the ‘I’, the « ours”, rather than “my and mine”.
From Slovenia, Klara said she felt shame to be a single mother pregnant. “How will society look at me?” Pregnant women are not to be judged but listened to and helped.
From the Netherlands, Nirvana launched messages of healing and hope, reminding that maternity is not a private burden but a shared European responsibility. “It took me time to understand I was completely alone. Blood, fear, panic, doubts… and no help at all.”
Mafalda, from Portugal, expressed from the bottom of her heart: “Europe cannot punish those who have children. If a woman wants to carry her pregnancy to term, she should be able to do it with dignity.”
EU Voices from the European Parliament
“Europe was built on the conviction that human dignity comes first,” said Tonio Borg, President of the One of Us European Federation. “If we truly believe in equality, then supporting mothers in difficulty is not optional — it is the European way to protect freedom and justice for all.”
Miriam Lexman, MEP, said: “Defending life is not extremism, it’s humanity. “Unborn children are not merchandise. We must protect the truth about the human being.”
Paolo Inselvini, MEP, who co-hosted the event, underlined that protecting maternity is an act of realism, not ideology: “These stories remind us that solidarity begins before birth. Europe’s social model must defend every mother and every child as part of one human family.”
Peter Agius, MEP, also cohost, added: “A society that does not support motherhood weakens its own foundations. Real choice means giving women real help, not empty slogans.”
Bert-Jan Ruissen, MEP affirmed: “As Members of the European Parliament, defending fragile human life is our moral duty.”
A European Appeal
At the close of the conference, women who gave their testimony and MEPs signed the Engagement for Maternal Support Declaration, urging the EU to promote maternity support as part of the Union’s commitment to human dignity under Articles 3 and 33 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
“We, women who have experienced vulnerable pregnancies and prenatal loss, together with Members of the European Parliament, call on the European institutions to promote the right to maternity support as recognized in the EU’s legal framework and fundamental rights instruments. Together, let us foster a culture that supports maternity and defends the dignity of all human life.
Guided by the principles of the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU, in particular Article 3 on the integrity of the person and Article 33 on the protection of the family and maternity,
we urge the European Union to:
- Improve the legal provisions on maternity support.
- Guarantee equal access, in all Member States, to maternity support for women facing difficulties.
- Promote policies that respect and protect human life from conception.
Tonio Borg, President of the One of Us Federation, said: “Supporting mothers in difficulty is not only a moral duty — it is the European way to defend dignity and freedom.”
Ségolène du Closel, CEO of One of Us, said: “Maternity support is a European right, which, to be unknow today, is a threated right, and has to be known, spread and protected”.
About the Event
The conference “Real Choice Means Real Support” was organized by the European Federation One of Us in cooperation with Members of the European Parliament Paolo Inselvini, Laurence Trochu, and Peter Agius.
The event’s message was clear: true freedom and equality begin with compassion and real support and any kind of help for mothers facing difficult pregnancies. If there is no help, there is no choice but resignation.
The times call for help to women and families to avoid abortion, not to finance and develop “tourism abortion”.
The European Federation One of Us was born in 2014, after the most successful ICE in all the UE history: 2 million of signatures collected in 18 European countries to protect human embryo from destruction by research and abortion. One of Us counts 50 NGO members in 19 European countries, all of them expert in maternity support.
