Andorra Bill Spares Women Who Abort, Not Doctors

Andorra’s Council of Ministers has approved a government bill that would remove criminal liability from women who seek or undergo an abortion, while leaving penalties for physicians who perform the procedure. The measure, advanced by Minister of Institutional Relations, Education and Universities Ladislau Baró, amends Article 117 of the Criminal Code so that a woman who consents to, requests, or assists in her own abortion "shall not be punishable."

Doctors who carry out abortions would still face prison terms of three months to three years and the loss of their medical license for five years. The draft also keeps abortion funding outside the Andorran Social Security Fund (CASS). In its statement the government said "the protection of life cannot entail the criminalization of women," and that for a complex personal situation "the State’s response cannot be criminal punishment, but rather support, protection and respect for the dignity of the person."

Talks With Rome and a Narrower Text

In September, Prime Minister Xavier Espot pledged to decriminalize abortion by April 2027, declaring the reform would proceed "whether the Holy See likes it or not," and adding that dialogue must leave the government convinced that the change would not jeopardize Andorra’s institutional system. Legislators have been in contact with the Holy See since 2019; Cardinal Pietro Parolin has been among the principal interlocutors for the Holy See. The terms now before ministers drop earlier proposals that would have lifted penalties for abortionists and allowed some CASS coverage—limits the Holy See accepted.

The cabinet decision is not final law. The text must still pass the General Council, Andorra’s parliament. Andorra’s two co-princes are Bishop Josep-Lluís Serrano Pénitnat of Urgell and French President Emmanuel Macron. Only one co-prince’s signature is required for promulgation; a refusal by the bishop of Urgell would therefore be unlikely, on its own, to block the bill. Macron is a strong public advocate of legal abortion.

Pro-abortion groups have criticized the package as insufficient, arguing that leaving doctors under threat of prison and excluding public funding fails to secure ready access. The Catholic Church teaches that every human life must be protected from conception; Andorra remains one of Europe’s last jurisdictions where abortion is still broadly criminalized. The bill’s next steps in the General Council will determine whether the principality weakens that protection for mothers while continuing to treat the act itself as a crime for those who perform it.