On November 9, 2026, appeal No. 41/011247-26ep titled 'On the ban of abortions at the mother's request at any stage of pregnancy' was registered on the governmental electronic petitions portal of the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine. The initiator was ordinary citizen Denys Bryinza. The document demands that the government develop and submit to the Verkhovna Rada a bill that completely revokes a woman's right to terminate a pregnancy of her own free will at any stage. The appearance of the petition sparked a wide resonance in Ukrainian media, but it is important to immediately distinguish between a private public initiative and state policy: at the time of publication, the appeal had gathered only a few dozen signatures.
What Exactly the Petition Demands
The text of the appeal contains several specific proposals. First, the author insists on a total ban on pregnancy termination for non-medical reasons starting from the first weeks. Second, medical exceptions are proposed to be narrowed down to cases where pregnancy poses a direct threat to life or critical harm to the mother's health; meanwhile, genetic anomalies and congenital features of the fetus that are not absolutely fatal should not, according to the initiator's design, be grounds for the procedure. Third, for victims of rape, it is proposed to shorten the permissible termination period from the current 22 to 12 weeks, introduce a mandatory 10-day 'reflection period', and require an appeal to medical professionals no later than the 11th week. A separate clause concerns tightening liability for conducting illegal operations. In justification, the author refers to Articles 3 and 27 of the Constitution of Ukraine and Christian traditions, claiming that human life begins at the moment of cell fusion.
How Current Legislation Works
Ukraine's reproductive legislation is regulated by Article 281 of the Civil Code and Article 50 of the Basics of Healthcare Legislation. At a woman's request, pregnancy termination is permitted up to 12 weeks. From 12 to 22 weeks, the procedure is possible only according to the list of medical and social indications approved by the Cabinet of Ministers, including the confirmed fact of rape and severe pathologies. After 22 weeks, artificial termination is prohibited except for cases of saving the mother's life. Thus, the current legal model already contains phased restrictions, and the petition effectively proposes moving the ban threshold to the earliest possible stage.
Real Chances of the Initiative
From a legal standpoint, the petition is not a bill and does not entail automatic changes. For the government to accept the appeal for consideration, 25,000 verified signatures must be collected within 90 days; currently, their number is in the dozens. The Cabinet of Ministers inherently lacks the authority to unilaterally introduce a ban—this requires the adoption of a law by the Verkhovna Rada. This is not the first attempt to raise the topic: a similar petition in early 2024 gained 36 signatures, and the Litovchenko initiative, which concluded in November 2026, received 148 votes over the allotted three months. All these appeals failed to reach the consideration threshold.
Context: European Vector and Medical Experience
Ukraine is officially moving toward integration into the European Union, where restrictions on reproductive rights similar to the Polish experience are criticized by European institutions. The medical community of Ukraine, in turn, points out that bans do not increase birth rates, but rather drive the procedure into an unregulated environment, which is associated with an increase in maternal mortality and disability. Currently, legislation in the field of family planning remains unchanged, and the registered petition is another test of public sentiment by right-conservative groups.
