The coveted EU Sakharov Prize is coming up which awards human rights work to celebrate freedom of thought. One of this year’s finalists is a group of women fighting for safe and legal abortion in Poland, the United States, and El Salvador.

Justyna Wydrzyńska, Morena Herrera, and Colleen McNichols were nominated by the Left group for their work fighting for abortion. They are being recognised by the European Union for their work as one finalist in the running to win €50,000.

Each year the European Parliament awards the Sakharov Prize to honour “exceptional individuals and organisations” defending human rights and fundamental freedoms. In 2022, the winners were the people of Ukraine, represented by their president, elected leaders and civil society.

Wydrzyńska is a Polish women’s rights defender and member of the Abortion Dream Team, who was sentenced to eight months of community service for helping a woman obtain an abortion in Poland.

Herrera is a feminist and social activist, advocating for safe and legal abortion access in El Salvador.

McNicholas is an American obstetrician-gynaecologist with a strong track record of high-quality patient care and impactful reproductive health advocacy.

The other two finalists are Jina Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life and Freedom Movement in Iran, as well as Nicaragua’s Vilma Núñez de Escorcia and Bishop Rolando José Álvarez Lagos who have been fighting for the human rights of Nicaraguans. 

Amini and the movement in her honour were nominated by the Socialists and Democrats, Renew Europe, and the European People’s Party. She is a 22-year-old Jurdish woman who was arrested and beaten by the morality police for wearing the hijab the “wrong” way when visiting Tehran in September of last year.

Her tragic death sparked major protests in Iran with women at the forefront, fighting against the hijab law, as well as several other oppressive and discriminatory laws.

Meanwhile, Tilly Metz, together with 42 other MEPs nominated Nuñez and Álvarez. Nuñez has been fighting for the human rights of Nicaraguans for decades and despite persecution, has remained in her country.

While Álvarez, Bishop of Matagalpa, has been one of the most outspoken critics of President Daniel Ortega’s regime. In February 2023, after refusing to leave the country, he was sentenced to 26 years in prison and his nationality was suspended.

In practice, abortion in Malta remains completely inaccessible thanks to a blanket ban that criminalises doctors and patients. As a citizen of Malta, the only way to get an abortion is illegally or by going abroad.

Who do you think should win the Sakharov prize?