Hungary to ratify women's treaty, scrap abortion rule

Hungary announced measures on Thursday aimed at improving women's rights, including plans to ratify the Istanbul Convention and scrap a rule requiring women to listen to foetal vital signs before an abortion.

Prime Minister Peter Magyar said Hungary planned to ratify the Council of Europe treaty aimed at combating violence against women. Hungary has been one of the last European Union holdouts on ratifying the convention.

Magyar said in a Facebook video that his government was making a commitment to end what he called an era of inaction. He said 44 women lawmakers in his governing Tisza party had proposed the move.

The Istanbul Convention was created by the Council of Europe, a human rights institution distinct from the EU, and entered into force in 2014. All EU countries signed it, but Bulgaria, Czechia, Hungary, Lithuania and Slovakia have not ratified it.

Magyar also said the government would scrap a 2022 regulation that required women to listen to foetal vital signs before an abortion. He said emergency contraceptive pills would be made available without a prescription to help prevent unwanted pregnancies and reduce abortions.

Under current Hungarian law, abortions may be performed up to 12 weeks and may be extended up to 24 weeks in cases of severe genetic or developmental abnormalities. Women must meet family service workers before being allowed to terminate pregnancies.

Women's rights organisation Patent welcomed the announcements as important, while saying more work remained. It cited years of advocacy and said Hungary was starting from a low base.

A 2024 survey by the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights found that more than 54 percent of Hungarian women said they had experienced physical, psychological or sexual abuse by a partner, the highest rate in the EU. The survey also found Hungary had the EU's lowest reporting rate for such cases, with less than 16 percent of abused women turning to authorities or other services.