Hungary plans abortion, contraception access reforms

Hungarian Prime Minister Peter Magyar announced a women’s rights package that would make emergency contraception available without a prescription and revise a 2022 abortion rule requiring patients to receive confirmation of a fetal heartbeat, a policy criticized as cruel and humiliating. The plan also includes ratifying the Istanbul Convention, which addresses violence against women and defines rape around the absence of consent, and strengthening legal protections for abuse survivors. Proposed measures include tougher restraining-order protections, criminalizing misuse of intimate images, and special treatment for domestic violence survivors in criminal proceedings, alongside efforts to address menstrual poverty. The reforms mark a significant departure from policies under former Prime Minister Viktor Orbán.