Totally prohibited in a minority of countries , authorized in others with more or less restrictions, access to legal abortion continues to be a very unequal and fragile right in the world .
According to information from Amnesty International, 90 million women of reproductive age do not have the right to decide about their pregnancy.
However, in several of the countries where abortion is allowed, there are legal restrictions. 22% of women of reproductive age live in countries where abortion is only allowed to save the woman’s life and another 23% in countries where abortion is only allowed for social and economic reasons.
Countries with legal abortion
In the last 25 years, more than 50 countries have modified their legislation to facilitate access to abortion, recognizing its essential role in protecting the life, health and fundamental rights of women, according to Amnesty International.
In general, it is the women of Europe, North America and Oceania who enjoy more liberal legislation, sometimes approved very recently. In Canada and the United States abortion is allowed.
New Zealand didn’t decriminalize abortion until 2020. And in Australia, New South Wales was the last state in the country to decriminalize abortion in 2019, repealing a 119-year-old law.
In Thailand, termination of pregnancy was decriminalized in February 2021 and can now be performed up to the twelfth week of missed menstruation.
And also in Asia, the highest court in South Korea ordered in 2019 to abolish the abortion ban, considering it unconstitutional.
In Africa, Benin became in October 2021 one of the rare countries to authorize this practice.
In Ireland, abortion has been legal since 2018 following a historic referendum that repealed the constitutional ban on terminating pregnancy. It was also liberalized in 2019 in Northern Ireland, the only part of the UK where it was banned, but access to the procedure is still difficult.
Other countries where abortion is allowed are Russia and China.
In America
And in Latin America, the right to abortion continues to gain ground.
Colombia legalized it up to 24 weeks of gestation regardless of the reason. Shortly after, Chile decided on March 16 to integrate the decriminalization of abortion into the draft of the new constitution.
In Mexico, in September 2021, a landmark ruling by the Supreme Court declared the abortion ban unconstitutional.
In addition, Argentina legalized the practice in December 2020. Uruguay, Cuba and Guyana are other countries that allow the interruption of pregnancy in any circumstance.
In which countries is abortion prohibited?
However, the practice remains banned in 23 countries, especially in Africa and Latin America.
El Salvador adopted a draconian law in 1998 that prohibits termination of pregnancy in all circumstances, even in the event of danger to the health of the mother or fetus, and provides for penalties of up to eight years in prison. In addition, the accusations usually include the crime of “aggravated homicide”, which can carry up to 50 years in prison.
Honduras, which prohibited this practice including in cases of rape, incest, serious malformation of the fetus and life-threatening danger to the mother, approved a constitutional reform in January 2021 that further toughens the legislation.
Article 67 of the revised Constitution establishes that any interruption of pregnancy “by the mother or by a third party” is considered “prohibited and illegal”, and adds that this clause “may only be amended by a three-quarters majority of the members of the plenary session of the National Congress.
In the United States, abortion was permitted by a Supreme Court ruling called Roe v. Wade, approved in 1973. However, this decision was reversed by the same court in June of this year.
Following this ruling, several US states have implemented full or partial abortion bans.
In Europe, total outlawing is an exception: it exists in Malta, with penalties ranging from 18 months to three years in prison, and in the microstates of Andorra and the Vatican.
In other countries, abortion is subject to extremely restrictive conditions.
The procedure is accessible only in case of danger to the life of the mother in Ivory Coast, Libya, Uganda, South Sudan, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Afghanistan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Burma, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Paraguay or Venezuela .
In Brazil, the procedure is very limited only in case of rape, risk to the mother or serious malformation of the fetus.
Elsewhere, this right steps back.
In Poland, for example, the Constitutional Court, backed by the far-right populist government, outlawed in October 2020 the voluntary termination of pregnancy in the event of serious fetal malformation. Now it is only allowed in case of rape or incest or if the life of the mother is in danger.
With information from AFP
