Abortion law

Abortion law is legislation and common law which pertains to the provision of abortion. Abortion has been a controversial subject in many societies through history because of the moral, ethical, practical, and political power issues that surround it. It has been banned frequently and otherwise limited by law. However, abortions continue to be common in many areas where they are illegal; abortion rates are similar in countries where the procedure is legal and in countries where it is not according to the World Health Organization (WHO),^[2] due to unavailability of modern contraceptives in areas where abortion is illegal.^[3] The number of abortions worldwide is declining due to increased access to contraception according to WHO.^[2] Almost 2/3 of the world's women currently reside in countries where abortion may be obtained on request for a broad range of social, economic or personal reasons. Abortion laws vary widely by country, ranging from those in Chile, El Salvador, Nicaragua, the Dominican Republic, Malta and Vatican City, which ban the procedure entirely,^[4] to those in the United Kingdom and the United States, which restrict abortion after the point of fetal viability, and Canada, which has removed abortion from the Criminal Code.

History

Abortion has been part of family planning since ancient times(need to be more specific what are "ancient times"), with natural remedies being found amongst a wide variety of tribal people and in all our written sources.(Need to add source material for "our written resources") Our earliest texts contain no mention of abortion or abortion law. When it does appear, it is entailed in concerns about male property rights, preservation of social order, and the duty to produce fit citizens for the state or community. The harshest penalties were generally reserved for a woman who procured an abortion against her husband's wishes, and for slaves who produced abortion in a woman of high status.( This paragraph is vague at best, it makes no use of any evidence found to support its assertions. Positive evidence backing up the claim that a specific culture used "family planning" in "Ancient Times" would help

Religious texts often contained severe condemnations of abortion, recommending penance but seldom enforcing secular punishment.

As a matter of common law in England and the United States, abortion was illegal anytime after quickening – when the movements of the fetus could first be felt by the woman. Under the born alive rule, the fetus was not considered a "reasonable being" in rerum natura; and abortion was not treated as murder in English law.

In the 19th century, many Western countries began to use statutes to codify or place further restrictions on abortion. Pro-life forces were led by a combination of conservative groups opposed to abortion on moral grounds, and by medical professionals who were concerned about the danger presented by the procedure and the regular involvement of non-medical personnel in performing abortions. It became clear in the following years, however, that illegal abortions continued to take place in large numbers even where abortions were expressly illegal. It was difficult to obtain sufficient evidence to prosecute the women and abortion doctors, and judges and juries were often reluctant to convict. Henry Morgentaler, for instance, was never convicted by a jury. (He was acquitted by a jury in the 1973 court case, but the acquittal was overturned by five judges on the Quebec Court of Appeal in 1974. He went to prison, appealed, and was again acquitted. In total, he served 10 months, suffering a heart attack while in solitary confinement.) Many were also outraged at the invasion of privacy and the medical problems resulting from abortions taking place illegally in medically dangerous circumstances. Political movements soon coalesced around the legalization of abortion and liberalization of existing laws.

By the early 20th century, many countries had begun to legalize abortions when performed to protect the life of the woman, and in some cases to protect the health of the woman. Under Vladimir Lenin, the Soviet Union legalized all abortions in 1920, but this was fully reversed in 1936 by Joseph Stalin in order to increase population growth. In the 1930s, several countries (Poland, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Mexico) legalized abortion in some special cases (rape, threat to mother's health, fetal malformation). In 1948 abortion was legalized in Japan, 1952 in Yugoslavia (on a limited basis) and 1955 in the Soviet Union (on demand). Some Soviet allies (Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania) legalized abortion in the late fifties under Soviet pressure. The adoption of contraceptives in the 1950s and 1960s in Western countries resulted in comparatively few statutory changes on abortion law. In Great Britain, the Abortion Act of 1967 clarified and prescribed abortions as legal up to 28 weeks. However just as it was difficult to convict abortion providers it was also difficult for many countries to get the public support necessary for the elected government to legalize it, so countries like Canada and the United States legalized it by the will of the Supreme Court instead. Other countries soon followed, including Canada (1969), the United States (1973 in most states, pursuant to the federal Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion nationwide), Tunisia (1973), France (1975), Austria (1975), New Zealand (1977), Italy (1978), the Netherlands (1980) and Belgium (1990). However, these countries vary greatly in the circumstances under which abortion is permitted. In 1975, the West German Supreme Court struck down a law legalizing abortion, holding that they contradict the constitution's human rights guarantees. In 1976 a law was adopted which enabled abortions up to 12 weeks. After Germany's reunification, despite the legal status of abortion in the former East Germany, a compromise was reached which deemed most abortions up to 22 weeks legal.

International law

In addition to national and regional laws, there are treaties that may actually be enforced on or within their parties. However, there is an inherent difficulty in the enforcement of international law due to the issue that state sovereignty poses. As such, the effectiveness of even binding multi-national efforts to legislate the rights to life and liberty in general, or abortion in specific, is difficult to measure.

National laws

On average, the frequency of abortions is similar in developing countries (where abortion is generally restricted) to the frequency in developed countries (where abortion is generally much less restricted).^[5][6] Abortion rates are very difficult to measure in locations where those abortions are illegal,^[7] and pro-life groups have criticized researchers for allegedly jumping to conclusions about those numbers.^[8] According to the Guttmacher Institute and the United Nations Population Fund, the abortion rate in developing countries is largely attributable to lack of access to modern contraceptives; assuming no change in abortion laws, providing that access to contraceptives would result in about 25 million fewer abortions annually, including almost 15 million fewer unsafe abortions.^[3]

The following series of tables present the current abortion legislation of the world's nations as divided by continent. Actual access to abortion may vary significantly on the basis of geography, income, cost, health care, social factors, and other issues. Many jurisdictions also place other restrictions on abortion access, including waiting periods, the provision of information, the assent of multiple doctors, and spousal or parental notification.

Legend

• Yes – Legal
• No – Illegal
• 1st – Legal during 1st trimester only (exact date – e.g. number of weeks – may vary)
• 2nd – Legal during 1st and 2nd trimester only (exact date may vary)
• Restricted – Legal but subject to significant restrictions
• Varies – Varies by region
•  ? – Information is unavailable or the law is too ambiguous

Africa

Asia

East

Central and South

West

Europe

Abortion is legal in nearly every European country although there is a wide variation in the restrictions under which it is permitted.^[16] Although nearly every European country makes abortion available on demand during the first trimester, when it comes to later-term abortions, there are very few with laws as liberal as those of the United States.^[17] Restrictions on abortion are most stringent in countries that are more strongly observant of the Catholic faith.^[16]

Western

Eastern

North and Central America

Oceania

South America

Legal restrictions on later abortion

As of 1998, among the 152 most populous countries, 54 either banned abortion entirely or permitted it only to save the life of the pregnant woman.^[23] In addition, another 44 of the 152 most populous countries generally banned late-term abortions after a particular gestational age: 12 weeks (Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, France, Georgia, Greece, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Norway, Russia, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, and the former Yugoslavia), 13 weeks (Italy), 14 weeks (Austria, Belgium, Cambodia, Germany, Hungary, and Romania), 18 weeks (Sweden), viability (Netherlands and to some extent the United States), and 24 weeks (Singapore and the United Kingdom [Northern Ireland excluded]).^[23]

Case law

Australia

• R v Davidson (1969)

Bangladesh

Chancery Law Chronicles- First Bangladesh Online Case Law Database [3]

Canada

• Abortion trial of Emily Stowe (1879)
• Azoulay v. The Queen (1952)
• Morgentaler v. The Queen (1976)
• R. v. Morgentaler (1988)
• Borowski v. Canada (Attorney General) (1989)
• Tremblay v. Daigle (1989)
• R. v. Morgentaler (1993)

Germany

• German Federal Constitutional Court abortion decision (1975)

Ireland

• Attorney General v. X (1992)

United States

• Roe v. Wade (1973)
• Doe v. Bolton (1973)
• H. L. v. Matheson (1981)
• City of Akron v. Akron Center for Reproductive Health (1983)
• Webster v. Reproductive Health Services (1989)
• Hodgson v. Minnesota (1990)
• Planned Parenthood v. Casey (1992)
• Bray v. Alexandria Women's Health Clinic (1993)
• Stenberg v. Carhart (2000)
• McCorvey v. Hill (2004)
• Ayotte v. Planned Parenthood of New England (2006)
• Gonzales v. Carhart (2007)

European Court of Human Rights

• A. B. and C. v. Ireland (2009)

See also

• Abortion
• Abortion debate
• Conscience clause
• History of abortion
• Medical law
• Mexico City Policy
• Religion and abortion
• Roe effect
• Henry Morgentaler
• Wrongful abortion

Notes

References

• law sidebars.htm Abortion Laws of the World. (n.d.). Annual Review of Population Law. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
• Appel, Jacob M. 'Conscience' vs. Care: How Refusal Clauses are Reshaping the Rights Revolution, Medicine and Health, Rhode Island, August 2005. Retrieved October 28, 2008.
• Rahman, Anika, Katzive, Laura, & Henshaw, Stanley K. (1998). A Global Review of Laws on Induced Abortion, 1985–1997. International Family Planning Perspectives, 24 (2). Retrieved July 14, 2006.
• United Nations Population Division. (2002). Abortion Policies: A Global Review. Retrieved July 14, 2006.
• IPPF European Network. (2004). Abortion Legislation in Europe. Retrieved October 27, 2006.
• Center for Reproductive Rights. (2005). law sidebars10.pdf Abortion and the Law: Ten Years of Reform. Retrieved November 22, 2006.
• The Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life. (November 2006). Abortion Laws Around The World. Retrieved April 18, 2007.
• Europe's Abortion Laws. (February 12, 2007). BBC News. Retrieved February 12, 2007.
• United Nations Population Division. (2007). World Abortion Policies 2007. Retrieved October 3, 2007.

External links

• Center for Reproductive Rights
• Pregnant Pause: Summary of Abortion Laws Around the World
• Laws on Abortion in the Second Trimesters, The International Consortium for Medical Abortion (ICMA)