Prime Minister Péter Magyar also proposes prescription-free emergency contraception and plans to initiate ratification of the Istanbul Convention on violence against women.
Hungarian Prime Minister Péter Magyar announced plans on 12 November to end the mandatory fetal-vital-sign demonstration before an abortion and remove the prescription requirement for emergency contraceptive pills. The changes remain proposals.
The government also plans to initiate ratification of the Istanbul Convention, a treaty on preventing violence against women and domestic violence. Magyar said the initiative followed a proposal by Tisza’s 44 female members of parliament.
The abortion rule was introduced in 2022 under Magyar’s predecessor, Viktor Orbán. It requires a medical provider to show a woman seeking an abortion evidence of a definitive sign of fetal life, commonly described as a fetal heartbeat. Under the proposal, women would choose whether to undergo the demonstration after receiving medical information and assistance.
DW said Hungarian law permits most abortions up to 12 weeks and those involving severe developmental abnormalities up to 24 weeks. Magyar said the fetal-sign requirement had raised serious bioethical questions. He said the wider package was a commitment to ending an era of inaction.
DW reported that the policy had not led to a decline in abortions.
On 11 September, the government said Health Minister Zsolt Hegedűs had completed consultations begun that summer with medical professionals, civil organizations, affected groups and church leaders on the fetal-sign rule, emergency contraception and medication abortion.
TASZ, a civil organization that took part in a ministry consultation on 30 July 2026, called for the fetal-sign rule to be repealed, arguing that it unnecessarily and disproportionately restricted women’s self-determination and could violate their dignity. It also called for rapid, practical access to emergency contraception without a prescription and for medication abortion to be introduced as a safe, regulated option.
After a Veterans Day ceremony at Arlington, the sentinel called for silence and respect. France 24 said the group had been laughing and taking pictures at the memorial.
The Council of Europe’s Istanbul Convention requires, among other measures, that rape be criminalized based on the absence of freely given consent. Orbán’s government opposed the treaty, arguing that it promoted what it called “gender ideology.”
Magyar’s proposed criminal-law package would tighten restraining-order rules, make misuse of intimate images a separate offense and strengthen protection of voluntary sexual consent. It would also provide special treatment for domestic violence victims during criminal proceedings.
In September, Hegedűs said he planned to submit a bill to the government before the end of 2026 addressing the fetal-sign regulation and related ethical questions.
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