The "My Voice My Choice" citizens' initiative calls for an EU-funded mechanism to cover abortion procedures for women from countries with near-total bans, such as Poland and Malta, or where access is limited, including Italy and Croatia, the Reuters news agency reported.
Supporters, including abortion rights groups, argue the plan would reduce unsafe abortions and help women who cannot afford to travel abroad for care.
Opponents, including far-right and some centre-right lawmakers, say the initiative interferes with national laws and conflicts with traditional values.
The EU in Strasbourg voted 358-202, with 79 abstentions, to approve the initiative, which now goes to the European Commission to decide whether to act on it.
Swedish MEP Abir Al-Sahlani, the rapporteur for the proposal, said: "This vote is a huge win for every woman in Europe. The EU has finally shown that sexual and reproductive health care is a basic human right."
She added: "The citizens of the EU raised their voices and showed they care about women’s lives, health and rights, and the European Parliament delivered. This initiative shows what is possible when citizens and institutions join forces. This is what democracy is about."
Lawmakers called on the EU executive to establish an opt-in financial mechanism, open to all member states on a voluntary basis and supported by EU funding.
Under the proposal, participating countries would be able to provide access to safe pregnancy termination, in line with their domestic laws, for women who lack safe and legal abortion options at home, the European Parliament said.
Previous citizens’ initiatives have rarely resulted in new EU legislation, Reuters reported.
The effort comes amid contrasting trends across Europe, with some countries moving to decriminalise abortion or enshrine abortion access in their constitutions, while others are seeing growing support for far-right parties, many of which oppose abortion.
During a debate a day earlier, Sweden's Al-Sahlani said the initiative had been launched because "women in Poland are dying, women in Malta are treated like criminals, in Italy access to abortion is only on paper ... and in Hungary and Slovakia, women's rights are being restricted," Polish state news agency PAP reported.
Polish left-wing lawmaker Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus said nearly 1.2 million people had signed the initiative. "This is a civic mandate that we cannot ignore," she said.
Right-wing lawmakers, however, spoke out against the proposal. Polish conservative MEP Małgorzata Gosiewska dismissed it as "a voice of ideology and the abortion business."
Polish politicians clash over abortion access
In Poland, which has one of the EU's most restrictive abortion laws, efforts to ease the rules have stalled.
Centrist Prime Minister Donald Tusk said last year that supporters of liberalising abortion regulations do not hold a majority in parliament.
"Those who oppose broader abortion rights form the majority in the house today, so it is difficult to bring about any changes in the law," Tusk said, citing the opposition conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, the far-right Confederation group and the rural-based Polish People's Party (PSL), a junior partner in his governing coalition.
Apart from Malta's total ban, Poland has the toughest abortion restrictions in the European Union, according to reports.
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Source: Reuters, IAR, PAP, europarl.europa.eu