200-300 Join Andorra Women's Day March Demanding Abortion Rights

Around 200 to 300 people joined Acció Feminista's International Women's Day march on March 8, 2026, traversing central Andorra la Vella and Escaldes-Engordany from Plaça de la Rotonda to Plaça Coprínceps. The demonstration, marked by chants like "My body, my decision" and placards demanding abortion rights, centered on calls to decriminalize the procedure, which remains fully prohibited in the Principat—the only European country with such a ban, according to Amnesty International's French branch.

Acció Feminista president Laia Ferré highlighted a global "backsliding of rights" and local stagnation, noting that a promised bill to address abortion had been shelved amid negotiations with the Vatican and recent statements from Pope Leo XIV. She criticized the lack of medical referral options, leaving women "totally unprotected" and forcing them to travel abroad at economic and emotional cost. Ferré also disputed Andorran UN representative Ferran Costa's comparison of abortion to routine foreign treatments, calling it inaccurate given penalties for both women and doctors.

Other demands included tackling the 22% gender pay gap, rising gender violence cases, and labour inequalities. Stop Violències accused the government of "cosmetic" events—like children's theatre on aesthetic pressure—that ignore women's poverty risk, with 54.6% of 2025 solidarity pension applicants being female retirees. The group demanded ILO membership, international labour treaties, and studies on working women's realities, citing free dismissal rules, no minimum wage health coverage without spousal dependency, and tourism-driven schedules hindering family-life balance.

Feminist groups welcomed parliamentary acceleration of paternity leave equalization—from four current weeks to 20 by 2030, down from an eight-year timeline—seeing it as key to shared childcare amid low birth rates. Activists from Acció Feminista and Associació de Dones d'Andorra, including Elisabet Royuela and Patty Bafino, reviewed gains like the effective equality law and past reforms on tubal ligation and nationality, but stressed ongoing battles over abortion, wage disparities, "glass ceilings," inadequate victim compensations, and online misinformation portraying feminism as anti-male.

An *El Periòdic d'Andorra* editorial described the turnout as subdued and the mood resigned, warning against normalizing March 8 amid unfinished work on pay gaps and sexist violence. Political figures attended, including Andorra la Vella's Olalla Losada, Comú councillors, and representatives from Concòrdia and Socialdemòcrats.