What was the first country to legalize abortion?
Abortion
Soviet Russia (1919), Iceland (1935) and Sweden (1938) were among the first countries to legalize certain or all forms of abortion. In 1935 Nazi Germany, a law was passed permitting abortions for those deemed "hereditarily ill", while women considered of German stock were specifically prohibited from having abortions. Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, abortion was legalized in a greater number of countries.
Status of same-sex marriage
The Netherlands was the first country to legalize same-sex marriages, with the first marriages performed in the Amsterdam city hall on 1 April 2001. Since then, same-sex marriages have been performed legally in Belgium (2003), Spain (2005), Canada (2005), South Africa (2006), Norway (2009), Sweden (2009), Portugal (2010), Iceland (2010), Argentina (2010), Denmark (2012), Brazil (2013), France (2013), Uruguay (2013), New Zealand (2013), the United Kingdom (2014), Luxembourg (2015), the United States (2015), Ireland (2015), Colombia (2016), Finland (2017), Malta (2017), Germany (2017), Australia (2017), and Austria (2019).
Abortion in the United States
In 1967, Colorado became the first state to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, or in which pregnancy would lead to permanent physical disability of the woman. Similar laws were passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. In 1970, Hawaii became the first state to legalize abortions on the request of the woman, and New York repealed its 1830 law and allowed abortions up to the 24th week of pregnancy. Similar laws were soon passed in Alaska and Washington. In 1970, Washington held a referendum on legalizing early pregnancy abortions, becoming the first state to legalize abortion through a vote of the people. A law in Washington, D.C., which allowed abortion to protect the life or health of the woman, was challenged in the Supreme Court in 1971 in "United States v. Vuitch". The court upheld the law, deeming that "health" meant "psychological and physical well-being", essentially allowing abortion in Washington, D. C. By the end of 1972, 13 states had a law similar to that of Colorado, while Mississippi allowed abortion in cases of rape or incest only and Alabama and Massachusetts allowed abortions only in cases where the woman's physical health was endangered. In order to obtain abortions during this period, women would often travel from a state where abortion was illegal to states where it was legal. The legal position prior to "Roe v. Wade" was that abortion was illegal in 30 states and legal under certain circumstances in 20 states.
Abortion in the United States
Abortion is legal in all U.S. states, and every state has at least one abortion clinic. Abortion is a controversial political issue, and regular attempts to restrict it occur in most states. One such case, originating in Texas, led to the Supreme Court case of "Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt" (2016) in which several Texas restrictions were struck down.
Abortion and Christianity
When the NRLC was formally incorporated in May 1973 in response to the US Supreme Court "Roe v. Wade" decision (which struck down most state laws in the United States restricting abortion in the first trimester of pregnancy), the National Conference of Catholic Bishops launched into a campaign to amend the United States Constitution with the enactment of a Human Life Amendment seeking not only to overturn the "Roe v. Wade" decision, but to also forbid both Congress and the states from legalizing abortion within the United States. Its first convention as an incorporated organization was held the following month in Detroit, Michigan. At the concurrent meeting of NRLC's board, Ed Golden of New York was elected president. Among the organization's founding members was Dr. Mildred Jefferson, the first African-American woman to graduate from Harvard Medical School. Jefferson subsequently served as president of the organization. Conventions have been held in various cities around the country every summer since the Detroit convention.
Abortion in Sint Maarten
Although the Netherlands legalised abortion in 1981, the reform was not adopted by any of the former colonies in the Dutch Caribbean, including Sint Maarten, Aruba and Curaçao, which instead retain the old Dutch common law. These three territories became autonomous countries in 2010, but there remains public apprehension about whether the Netherlands will continue to attempt to "impose its liberal values and legislation" on the Dutch Caribbean, with abortion law being a chief concern.
Abortion in the United Kingdom
Abortion is legal under certain circumstances in England and Wales and Scotland based on the Abortion Act 1967, then one of the most liberal abortion laws in Europe when it was enacted. In Northern Ireland however, abortion is prohibited under most circumstances.
Abortion in Romania
Abortion on demand was first legalized in Romanian in 1957 and stayed legal until 1966, when it outlawed by Nicolae Ceaușescu. It was legalized again after the Romanian Revolution.
Abortion in Canada
The 1989 Supreme Court of Canada case of Chantal Daigle ("Tremblay v. Daigle" [1989] 2 SCR 530) is one of the most widely publicized cases concerning abortion in Canada after the law prohibiting abortions was overturned by the Supreme Court of Canada. Daigle's ex-boyfriend obtained a restraining order against her having an abortion. While the restraining order was issued in Quebec, it was legally restricting Canada-wide. The Supreme Court of Canada ruled that only the woman could make the choice; the father had no legal say in a woman's choice to terminate a pregnancy or carry it to completion.
North Carolina Women's Right to Know Act
Abortion has historically been a very emotionally charged and divisive issue. The issue tends to be very partisan and is typically a topic of debate in most elections. States have attempted to control and regulate the practice in varying ways stopping just short of banning the practice. The constitutionality of banning the procedure was heard in the U.S Supreme Court in Roe v. Wade. It was decided that criminalizing the practice was in violation of a woman's right to privacy, under due process found in the Fourteenth Amendment However, the court decided that it was acceptable to make it illegal to have an abortion after the fetus is viable.
History of abortion
In the early 1950s, the Chinese government made abortion illegal, with punishments for those who received or performed illegal abortions written into the law. These restrictions were seen as the government's way of emphasizing the importance of population growth.
Female foeticide in India
India passed its first abortion-related law, the so-called Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971, making abortion legal in most states, but specified legally acceptable reasons for abortion such as medical risk to mother and rape. The law also established physicians who can legally provide the procedure and the facilities where abortions can be performed, but did not anticipate female foeticide based on technology advances. With increasing availability of sex screening technologies in India through the 1980s in urban India, and claims of its misuse, the Government of India passed the Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques Act (PNDT) in 1994. This law was further amended into the Pre-Conception and Pre-natal Diagnostic Techniques (Regulation and Prevention of Misuse) (PCPNDT) Act in 2004 to deter and punish prenatal sex screening and female foeticide. However, there are concerns that PCPNDT Act has been poorly enforced by authorities.
Pregnancy options counseling in the United States
There are different requirements for women who wish to access abortion services. If someone is under eighteen, the person's state may require parental consent from one or both parents for the abortion to be carried out. In most states, you can go to a judge and request to be excused from this requirement. The Supreme Court first legalized abortion in 1973 with the Roe vs. Wade decision.
History of abortion
A well-known example of a Victorian-era abortionist was Madame Restell, or Ann Lohman, who over a forty-year period illicitly provided both surgical abortion and abortifacient pills in the northern United States. She began her business in New York during the 1830s, and, by the 1840s, had expanded to include franchises in Boston and Philadelphia. It is estimated that by 1870 her annual expenditure on advertising alone was $60,000. Because of her reputation, "Restellism" became a synonym for abortion.
One ad for Restell's medical services, printed in the New York Sun, promised that she could offer the "strictest confidence on complaints incidental to the female frame" and that her "experience and knowledge in the treatment of cases of female irregularity, [was] such as to require but a few days to effect a perfect cure". Another, addressed to married women, asked the question, "Is it desirable, then, for parents to increase their families, regardless of consequences to themselves, or the well-being of their offspring, when a simple, easy, healthy, and certain remedy is within our control?" Advertisements for the "Female Monthly Regulating Pills" she also sold vowed to resolve "all cases of suppression, irregularity, or stoppage of the menses, however obdurate". Madame Restell was an object of criticism in both the respectable and penny presses. She was first arrested in 1841, but, it was her final arrest by Anthony Comstock which led to her suicide on the day of her trial April 1, 1878.
Same-sex marriage
In 1989, Denmark became the first country to recognize a legal relationship for same-sex couples, establishing registered partnerships, which gave those in same-sex relationships "most rights of married heterosexuals, but not the right to adopt or obtain joint custody of a child". In 2001, the Netherlands became the first country to establish same-sex marriage by law. Since then same-sex marriage has also been established by law in Belgium (2003), Spain (2005), Canada (2005), South Africa (2006), Norway (2009), Sweden (2009), Portugal (2010), Iceland (2010), Argentina (2010), Denmark (2012), Brazil (2013), France (2013), Uruguay (2013), New Zealand (2013), Luxembourg (2015), the United States (2015), Ireland (2015), Colombia (2016), Finland (2017), Malta (2017), Germany (2017), Australia (2017) and Austria (2019). In Mexico, same-sex marriage is performed in several states and recognized in all thirty-one states. In the United Kingdom same-sex marriage has been established law in England, Wales, and Scotland, but not yet in Northern Ireland.
Abortion in the United Kingdom
The Abortion Act 1967 sought to clarify the law. Introduced by David Steel and subject to heated debate, it allowed for legal abortion on a number of grounds, with the added protection of free provision through the National Health Service. The Act was passed on 27 October 1967 and came into effect on 27 April 1968.
Abortion under communism
Before 1966, Romania had the most liberal laws of abortion in Europe. However, after the rise of power of Nicolae Ceauşescu, Decree 770 only allowed abortion to save the life of the mother. It was also allowed for women over 40 years old or with four or more children. In 1986, the age of tolerance was further raised to 45. The goal of the ban was a larger population that could drive a larger workforce and consumer-led growth, in order to achieve economic independence from the Soviet Union. Over the span of these 23 years, more than 2 million unwanted children, were born and at least 10,000 women died as a result. The 770 Decree was one of the first laws to be repealed right after Ceauşescu's trial and execution on the 25th of December, 1989; more than 1 million abortions were performed the year after, more than three times the number of children born that year.
History of abortion
In 1967, Colorado became the first state to decriminalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, or in which pregnancy would lead to permanent physical disability of the woman. Similar laws were passed in California, Oregon, and North Carolina. In 1970, Hawaii became the first state to legalize abortions on the request of the woman, and New York repealed its 1830 law and allowed abortions up to the 24th week of pregnancy. Similar laws were soon passed in Alaska and Washington. A law in Washington, D.C., which allowed abortion to protect the life or health of the woman, was challenged in the Supreme Court in 1971 in "United States v. Vuitch". The court upheld the law, deeming that "health" meant "psychological and physical well-being", essentially allowing abortion in Washington, DC. By the end of 1972, 13 states had a law similar to that of Colorado, while Mississippi allowed abortion in cases of rape or incest only and Alabama and Massachusetts allowed abortions only in cases where the woman's physical health was endangered.
Reproductive rights
The Maputo Protocol, which was adopted by the African Union in the form of a protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, states at Article 14 (Health and Reproductive Rights) that: "(2). States Parties shall take all appropriate measures to: [...] c) protect the reproductive rights of women by authorising medical abortion in cases of sexual assault, rape, incest, and where the continued pregnancy endangers the mental and physical health of the mother or the life of the mother or the foetus." The Maputo Protocol is the first international treaty to recognize abortion, under certain conditions, as a woman's human right.
Abortion in Argentina
However, abortion can be performed legally by a certified doctor if:The last and only official report on the number of abortions dates from 2005 and, according to said report, there are 370.000 to 520.000 both legal and illegal abortions per year in Argentina. . Many failed abortion attempts and deaths due to them are not recorded as such and/or are not notified to the authorities. Enforcement of anti-abortion legislation is variable and complex; there are multiple NGOs providing women with help to access drugs that can interrupt pregnancies, as well as doctors who openly perform the procedure. In 2018, following years of lobbying, Congress members from all parties proposed to debate legalization and provision of free abortions in public clinics - a debate to be held in 2018. President Mauricio Macri has stated that, despite identifying as pro-life on this issue,he would not ban a decision by Congress on the matter, and the issue will be debated alongside other measures to address gender inequality. In 2018 the matter took parliamentary status after the authorization to treat the law of legalization in the National Congress. On June 14, 2018 the Chamber of Deputies gave preliminary approval to the law with 129 votes in favor, 125 against and 1 abstention. Senate rejected the law by 38-31. The pro-life movement, along with the Catholic Church received the result as a big win.
Abortion in Fiji
Abortion in Fiji is legal if the abortion will save the woman's life or if the pregnancy gravely endangers the woman's physical or mental health. In 2010, abortions to end pregnancies that are a result of rape or incest became legally available to women. In Fiji, any approved abortion requires authorisation from a physician.
Abortion debate
As of June 2018, there are 5 countries that completely outlaw abortion: El Salvador, the Vatican, Malta, the Dominican Republic, and Nicaragua. This bans women from an abortion for any reason (underage, fetal impairment, rape/incest), even if it might mean saving her life. All of these countries have a punishment if it is done illegally of jail time.
Abortion in Trinidad and Tobago
Abortion in Trinidad and Tobago Abortion is a very serious issue in the nation of Trinidad and Tobago. These laws are very different from those in the United States, and have been in place for approximately 90 years. An abortion is one of the most common surgical procedures in Trinidad and Tobago, and most occur during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
In a case in 2010, the government of Ireland denied Siobhán Whelan an abortion despite being diagnosed with fatal foetal syndrome; she had to travel from Ireland to the UK to terminate her pregnancy. In June 2017, the United Nations Human Rights Committee ruled that Ireland's abortion law violated Whelan's human rights along with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, subjecting Whelan to a cruel, inhumane and degrading treatment, and called for legalisation of and access to safe abortions. The ruling was praised by the Center for Reproductive Rights.
Abortion law
According to a report by Women on Waves, approximately 25% of the world's population lives in countries with "highly restrictive abortion laws" - that is, laws which either completely ban abortion, or allow it only to save the mother's life. This category of countries includes most countries in Latin America, most countries of MENA, approximately half of the countries of Africa, seven countries in the Asia-Pacific region, as well as one country (Malta) and the Northern Ireland region of the UK in Europe.
Women in Russia
The ban on abortion was repealed in 1955 - after almost 20 years of prohibition, abortion became legal again. After Stalin's death, the Soviet government revoked the 1936 laws and issued a new law on abortion.
Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova (Russian: Валенти́на Влади́мировна Терешко́ва; born 6 March 1937) was the first woman to have flown in space, having been selected from more than four hundred applicants and five finalists to pilot Vostok 6 on 16 June 1963. Before her recruitment as cosmonaut, Tereshkova was a textile factory assembly worker and an amateur skydiver. In order to join the Cosmonaut Corps, Tereshkova was only honorarily inducted into the Soviet Air Force and thus she also became the first civilian to fly in space. During her three-day mission, she performed various tests on herself to collect data on the female body's reaction to spaceflight.
Abortion in Serbia
Abortion in Serbia was legalized in its current form (in Serbia and the other former Yugoslav republics) on October 7, 1977. Abortion is available on-demand for women whose pregnancies have not exceeded the tenth week, and in the case of risk to life or health of woman (no limit specified), or when the pregnancy has resulted from a sex offence (including rape or incest), or in case of fetal impairment up to twenty weeks. Minors under 16 require parental consent before undergoing an abortion. Some estimates suggest that Serbia has the highest abortion rate in Europe. Official data from the Belgrade Institute of Public Health claims that 23,000 abortions are performed in Serbia annually, but unofficial data suggests a number as high as 150,000. Although abortions performed after 10 weeks must be done only if there is a specific approved reason, in practice, abortions on demand are performed later than the legal limit - women often obtain fake medical documentation, for example, a note from a psychiatrist stating that they are mentally unstable. Furthermore, doctors who want to perform abortions have to obtain a license; because the process of obtaining this license can be strict and complicated many doctors work illegally without a license, and do not report the abortions that they perform. Until recently, abortion was a leading method of birth control in what is now the country of Serbia. Lack of sex education, coupled with little to no knowledge of contraception methods caused a large number of unwanted pregnancies, and with them, a high number of terminations. In the 1970s and 1980s, approximately 12 percent of sexually active women in Serbia used modern contraception such as condoms.
Abortion in the United States
Abortions became illegal by statute in Britain in 1803, and various anti-abortion statutes began to appear in the United States in the 1820s that codified or expanded common law. In 1821, a Connecticut law targeted apothecaries who sold "poisons" to women for purposes of inducing an abortion, and New York made post-quickening abortions a felony and pre-quickening abortions a misdemeanor in 1829. Some argue that the early American abortion laws were motivated not by ethical concerns about abortion but by concern about the procedure's safety. However, some legal theorists point out that this theory is inconsistent with the fact that abortion was punishable regardless of whether any harm befell the pregnant woman and the fact that many of the early laws punished not only the doctor or abortionist, but also the woman who hired them.
Family planning in Pakistan
The first abortion penal code (Article 312) of this region dates back to 1860, during British colonial rule which stipulated that unless an abortion was to "save a woman's life," it was expressly illegal and punishable by law, and the same applied for (self)induced miscarriages. In 1990, the penal code was provisionally adapted in order to better reflect Islamic Law, and finally was made permanent in 1997. According to this change in the abortion law, preservation of "the physical and mental health" of a woman, early on in the pregnancy, also became legal grounds for a permissible abortion. Unfortunately, however the interpretation of necessary treatment required by a woman for an abortion to be performed is vague, and despite the legality, health professionals in Pakistan felt abortion was "immoral, contrary to religion and illegal," especially according to female paramedics when compared to doctors and gynaecologists. However, the female paramedics had a more lenient attitude when it came to a question of whether an abortion was justified: to save a mother's life, when the fetus was either abnormal or when a woman was raped; whereas the gynaecologists and doctors felt it was less permissible to perform, especially in the case of rapes. Unfortunately, health care professionals do not wish to perform abortions either due to their own religious leanings, ethical stances or fear of stigmatization.
Lee Minto
When the referendum took place on November 3, 1970, Washington voters approved state legalization of abortion – with certain conditions attached – passing it with 56.5 per cent of the votes. Washington was the first U.S. state to legalize abortion through a vote of the people.
Abortion in Estonia
Abortion in Estonia has been legal since 23 November 1955, when Estonia was part of the Soviet Union. Estonia fine-tuned their legislation after the restoration of independence.
Abortion law
Europe's formerly Communist countries have liberal abortion laws. An exception is Poland, a country with a strict abortion law. Abortion is allowed only in cases of risk to the life or health of the woman, when the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act (the criminal act has to be confirmed by a prosecutor), or when the fetus is seriously malformed. A doctor who performs an abortion which is deemed to not have a legal basis is subject to criminal prosecution, and, out of fear of prosecution, doctors avoid abortions, except in the most extreme circumstances.
Abortion in Germany
East Germany legalized abortion on demand until 12 weeks of pregnancy in 1972, in the Volkskammer's only non-unanimous vote ever in the first 40 years of its existence. After West Germany followed suit in 1974, its new law was struck down in 1975 by the Constitutional Court as inconsistent with the human rights guarantee of the constitution. It held that the unborn has a right to life, that abortion is an act of killing, and that the fetus deserves legal protection throughout its development. Nevertheless, the legal opinion strongly hinted that increasing the number of situations in which abortion was legal might be constitutional.
Michelle Bachelet
The Chilean Congress approved Bachelet's abortion legalisation bill in some circumstances in July 2017, but was subjected to challenge in the Constitutional Court.
Later, Chile's total abortion ban implemented under the Pinochet regime in 1989 was lifted in August 2017 after the Constitutional Court voted 6–4 to allow the procedure under some circumstances: in cases of pregnancy as a result of rape (up to 12 weeks), if the fetus endangers the mother's life, or if the fetus is not viable. Prior to this, Chile was one of only four nations in the Americas that had a total ban on abortions, the others being El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Dominican Republic.
International Safe Abortion Day
28 September is International Safe Abortion Day. The day was first celebrated as a day of action for decriminalization of abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean in 1990 by the Campaña 28 Septiembre. In 2011, the Women's Global Network for Reproductive Rights (WGNRR) declared 28 September as an international day. The date was chosen to commemorate the passing of the Law of Free Birth passed by the Brazilian parliament in September 28, 1871.
Late termination of pregnancy
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.
Sex-selective abortion
India passed its first abortion-related law, the so-called Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971, making abortion legal in most states, but specified legally acceptable reasons for abortion such as medical risk to mother and rape. The law also established physicians who can legally provide the procedure and the facilities where abortions can be performed, but did not anticipate sex selective abortion based on technology advances.
United States anti-abortion movement
The description "pro-life" was adopted by the right-to-life (anti-abortion) movement in the United States following the Supreme Court 1973 decision "Roe v. Wade", which held that a woman may terminate her pregnancy prior to the viability of the fetus outside of the womb and may also terminate her pregnancy "subsequent to viability ... for the preservation of the life or health of the mother." The term "pro-life" was adopted instead of "anti-abortion" to highlight their proponents' belief that abortion is the taking of a human life, rather than an issue concerning the restriction of women's reproductive rights. The first organized action was initiated by U.S. Catholic bishops who recommended in 1973 that the U.S. Constitution should be amended to ban abortion.
Rebecca Gomperts
Women on Waves made many voyages. News spread quickly that she was trying to reach countries where abortion was illegal through their waters, and many of these countries put up incredible measures to stop her. The first voyage was to Ireland, then following was Poland, Portugal, Spain, Morocco and Guatemala. Although her first eleven-day trip to Dublin was deemed unsuccessful by the media, Women On Waves had received over 200 abortion requests from women ashore who needed their help, which was more attention than Gomperts had ever imagined. Women on Waves was never intended on solving the problem of unsafe abortions, but to help create legal precedent in the grey areas of countries abortion laws, to reach all those women who had been refused help by their own doctors and physicians, and to prevent the dangerous act of illegal abortions.
Abortion in Russia
The Soviet government was the first government in Europe to legalize abortion. In October 1920 the Bolsheviks made abortion legal within the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic with their “Decree on Women’s Healthcare.” After the RSFSR the law was introduced in Ukraine (5 July 1921) and then the remainder of the Soviet Union. The government saw legalization as a temporary necessity, as after the economic crisis and nearly a decade of unrest, war, revolution, and civil war, many women would be seeking abortions due to not being able to take care of their child. Restrictions were placed on the criteria for abortions and by 1924 it was only permitted where pregnancy risked the life of the woman or the unborn child. The Soviet Union encouraged pronatal policies; however, Soviet officials argued that women would be getting abortions regardless of legality, and the state would be able to regulate and control abortion only if it was legalized. In particular, the Soviet government hoped to provide access to abortion in a safe environment performed by a trained doctor instead of "babki". While this campaign was extremely effective in the urban areas (as much as 75% of abortions in Moscow were performed in hospitals by 1925), it had much less on rural regions where there was neither access to doctors, transportation, or both and where women relied on traditional medicine. In the countryside in particular, women continued to see "babki", midwives, hairdressers, nurses, and others for the procedure after abortion was legalized in the Soviet Union.
Women's rights
Women's reproductive rights may be understood as including the right to easy access to a safe and legal abortion. Abortion laws vary from a full prohibition (the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Malta, Nicaragua, the Vatican) to countries such as Canada, where there are no legal restrictions. In many countries where abortion is permitted by law, women may only have limited access to safe abortion services. In some countries abortion is permitted only to save the pregnant woman's life, or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.
There are also countries where the law is liberal, but in practice it is very difficult to have an abortion, due to most doctors being conscientious objectors. The fact that is some countries where abortion is legal it is "de facto" very difficult to have access to one is controversial; the UN in its 2017 resolution on "Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: domestic violence" urged states to guarantee access to "safe abortion where such services are permitted by national law".
Abortion-rights movements
Poland initially held abortion to be legal in 1958 by the communist government, but was later banned after restoration of democracy in 1989.
Abortion in Uruguay
Abortion was made illegal in Uruguay in 1938. Many women and girls died every year from complications of unsafe abortions. In 2004, a team of professionals including gynaecologists, midwives, psychologists, nurses and social workers founded a group called "Iniciativas Sanitarias" ("Health Initiatives"). As part of a larger goal to promote sexual rights and abortion as a "human right", they focussed on unintended or "unwanted" pregnancies and their consequences. They say that women should not have to pay for abortion of the unborn child's life with their own lives, and that pregnant women have a right to health information and emotional support, as well as post-abortion medical care. Their group aims to provide both respect and confidentiality.
Abortion in Iran
Abortion was first legalized in 1978. In April 2005, the Iranian Parliament approved a new bill easing the conditions by also allowing abortion in certain cases when the fetus shows signs of handicap, and the Council of Guardians accepted the bill in 15/June/2005.
Abortion is currently legal in cases where the mother's life is in danger, and also in cases of fetal abnormalities that makes it not viable after birth (such as anencephaly) or produce difficulties for mother to take care of it after birth, such as major thalassemia or bilateral polycystic kidney disease. There is no need for a consent from the father and request and consent of mother with approval of three specialist physicians and final acceptance by legal medicine center suffices. Legal abortion is allowed only before 19th week of pregnancy.
Abortion in Nicaragua
In October 2006, right before the general elections on 5 November 2006, the National Assembly passed a bill further restricting abortion 52-0 (9 abstaining, 29 absent). The European Union and the United Nations had urged for the vote to be delayed until after the presidential elections. The new law outlawed abortion in all circumstances, making Nicaragua the sixth country in the world to do so, after Chile, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Malta, and Vatican City. The Assembly rejected a proposal which would have increased the penalty for performing an illegal abortion from 10 to 30 years in prison. President Enrique Bolaños supported this measure, but signed the bill into law on 17 November 2006. Pro-choice groups in Nicaragua have criticized the change to the country's abortion law, and one, the Women's Autonomous Movement, were prepared to file an injunction to prevent it from being enacted.
Abortion in the United States
One notable case dealt with a woman named Sherri Finkbine. Born in the area of Phoenix, Arizona, Sherri had 4 very healthy children. However, during her pregnancy with her 5th child, she had found that the child had many different deformities. Sherri had been taking sleeping pills that contained a drug called Thalidomide which was also very popular throughout several countries. She had later learned that this specific drug was actually causing the fetal deformities and she wanted to warn the general public. Finkbine strongly wanted an abortion, however the abortion laws of Arizona limited her decision. In Arizona, an abortion could only occur if the mother's life was in danger. She met with a reporter from "The Arizona Republic" and told her story. While Sherri Finkbine wanted to be kept anonymous, the reporter disregarded this idea. On August 18, 1962, Finkbine traveled to Sweden in order to continue with the abortion, as the laws applied for her in that location. It was later determined, during the time at which she had the abortion, that the child would have been very much deformed. Sherri Finkbine's story marks a turning point for women as well as the history of abortion laws occurring in the United States. Sherri Finkbine, unlike many other women was able to afford going overseas to have the abortion. However, for the women who have pregnancies that are actually unintended, they may not be able to afford traveling, leading them to seek more illegal forms of abortion.
Childbirth in Japan
Abortion has been legal in Japan since 1948. A 1982 survey by the Kyodo News Service reported than 75% of women in their fifties had undergone abortions at some point in their lives. Abortion became legal during the postwar period when the needs of survival limited the number of mouths a family could feed. Nevertheless, abortion is not taken lightly and is traditionally marked by various Buddhist rituals in which parents express regret and gratitude to their aborted children for their sacrifice for the family. A 2005 study by Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine reported that there were 341,588 induced abortions in 2001. In addition, the abortion rate has been gradually increased by 5.4% to 292 per 1,000 live births from 1998 to 2001.
Abortion in Belarus
Abortion in Belarus has been legal since November 23, 1955, when Belarus was a republic of the Soviet Union. The current abortion legislation dates from December 31, 1987, and is one of the most liberal abortion laws in Europe. Abortion is allowed on request up to 12 weeks, and in specific circumstances, on a variety of grounds, until 28 weeks.
Jane Elizabeth Hodgson
In 1970, Hodgson performed an abortion on a 23-year-old married mother of three children who had contracted rubella, which can cause serious birth defects in the fetus and child. The abortion, a dilation and curettage (D&C), was performed at the St. Paul-Ramsey Hospital (now called Regions Hospital). At the time, abortion was illegal in Minnesota, unless the pregnancy was a threat to the woman's health. Hodgson was charged, pled guilty and was sentenced to 30 days in jail. This was the first time that a licensed physician had been convicted for performing a therapeutic abortion in a hospital. She appealed to the state supreme court which overturned her conviction after the pivotal Roe v. Wade decision by the United States Supreme Court. In response to her lawyer's question during her trial, "Do you regard the fertilized ovum as equivalent to a human person?" Hodgson replied, "No, and most women would not. We are more pragmatic than men, more concerned with reality. I'm concerned with the sacredness of life, but this is only a few embryonic cells." She continued, "We, as physicians, should be concerned with the quality of life as it develops."
Zhenotdel
The Zhenotdel persuaded the Bolsheviks to legalise abortion (as a 'temporary measure'). The Bolsheviks legalised aborting in November 1920. This was the first time in world history that women had won the right to free abortions in state hospitals.
Abortion in Barbados
In 1983, the Barbados parliament passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, decriminalizing abortion and giving women access to legal and safe abortion care. Billie Miller, the first woman to serve as minister of health in Barbados, campaigned for seven years to encourage her colleagues to decriminalize medical care for women. Passage of this new law made Barbados the first English-speaking country in the Caribbean to decriminalize abortion.
History of abortion
Japan is known today worldwide for its acceptance of abortion. It is estimated that two-thirds of Japanese women have an abortion by age forty, partially due to former government restrictions on contraceptive pills on 'public hygiene grounds'.
Roe v. Wade
According to the Court, "the restrictive criminal abortion laws in effect in a majority of States today are of relatively recent vintage." Providing a historical analysis on abortion, Justice Harry Blackmun noted that abortion was "resorted to without scruple" in Greek and Roman times. Blackmun also addressed the permissive and restrictive abortion attitudes and laws throughout history, noting the disagreements among leaders (of all different professions) in those eras and the formative laws and cases. In the United States, in 1821, Connecticut passed the first state statute criminalizing abortion. Every state had abortion legislation by 1900. In the United States, abortion was sometimes considered a common law crime, though Justice Blackmun would conclude that the criminalization of abortion did not have "roots in the English common-law tradition." Rather than arresting the women having the abortions, legal officials were more likely to interrogate these women to obtain evidence against the abortion provider in order to close down that provider's business.
Abortion in Italy
In the early seventies with the presentation of two bills originating from the radical left which aimed to legalize therapeutic abortion. These bills did not reach the discussion state before the dissolution of parliament and the calling of new elections. In 1973 the fight to legalize abortion was begun with the Fortuna first bill. Fortuna’s law provided for the possibility of therapeutic abortions but is required the agreement of 3 doctors and precludes abortion unless the woman was seriously ill or mad. It also demanded the consent of parents for girls under 18. After the election in 1976, the pro-abortion majority was committed to legalization and nine different bills were presented from June 1976 till April 1978. Finally, the bill was passed and published on 22 May 1978.
Abortion in the Republic of Ireland
The Abortion Act 1967 in Great Britain made access to the treatment easier for Irish women and the instance of infanticide, which was prevalent, began to decline sharply. In 1974 Noël Browne became the first member of the Oireachtas to propose the provision of therapeutic abortion services during a contribution to a Seanad debate. In 1981 future President of Ireland, Mary McAleese, chaired a meeting at Liberty Hall that advocated a woman's right to choose. She later claimed that she misunderstood the nature of the meeting. McAleese had previously said that "I would see the failure to provide abortion as a human rights issue", but also that she did not feel "that the way to cope with it is through introducing abortion legislation" into Ireland. A number of controversies have arisen following deaths of pregnant women who were prevented from receiving medical care because of their pregnancy, such as Sheila Hodgers in 1983. Sheila Hodgers was a woman from Dundalk, County Louth, who in 1983 died of multiple cancers two days after giving birth to her third child, who died at birth. It is alleged that she was denied treatments for her cancer while pregnant because the hospital did not wish to harm the foetus because of its Catholic ethos.
Abortion in the Dominican Republic
Abortion in the Dominican Republic is completely illegal. The Dominican Republic is one of the few countries of the world which have a complete ban on abortion, without an exception for saving maternal life.
Clifford Menhennitt
Though he was on the court for thirteen years, Menhennitt remains most well known for one particular case, "R v Davidson", commonly known as the "Menhennitt ruling". It was the first legal precedent in Australia concerning the legality of abortion, and Menhennitt ruled that abortion was lawfully justified if "necessary to preserve the physical or mental health of the woman concerned, provided that the danger involved in the abortion did not outweigh the danger which the abortion was designed to prevent." It was later largely adopted by courts in New South Wales and Queensland (with the Levine ruling of 1971 and McGuire ruling of 1986 respectively), and was influential in some other states. Menhennitt's ruling remained the basis for abortion law in Victoria for almost 40 years, until the "Abortion Law Reform Act 2008" (Vic) formally decriminalised abortion.
Abortion debate
Ireland used to only allow abortions if the pregnancy is a risk to the woman's life. It was also a very expensive procedure. The recent referendum allowed abortions. There are also penalties of jail time if an abortion is induced for any other reason. China has a free abortion policy but for the reason of complying with the one child policy - so many times it is forced upon them. The Philippines also only have abortions in place to save the woman's life but it is not stated in the law. This means that it is also punishable by jail time. Argentina allows abortion only in case of rape or mother's health at risk. Argentina Senate has rejected bill to legalize abortion.
History of abortion
Abortion laws and their enforcement have fluctuated through various eras. In many western countries during the 20th century abortion-rights movements were successful in having abortion bans repealed. While abortion remains legal in most of the West, this legality is regularly challenged by "Pro-Life" groups.
Abortion in Turkey
In 1983, abortion was legalized in Turkey. In the past, abortions would happen in secret and were usually done in harmful and unsafe ways. Finally, in 1983 Turkey decided to legalize abortions, as they do in Tunisia, during the first trimester no matter what circumstances the mother faces. Out of all the countries in the Middle East region, Turkey and Tunisia are the only two countries in this region that allow abortions under any circumstances during the first trimester. The rest of the Middle East only allows abortions if it affects the health of the woman.
Abortion in Germany
Legalization of abortion was first widely discussed in Germany during the early 20th century. When Germany became a country in 1871, section 218 of the Constitution outlawed abortion, requiring a penal term for both the woman and the doctor involved. During the Weimar Republic, such discussion led to a reduction in the maximum penalty for abortion, and in 1926 a court's decision legalized abortion in cases of grave danger to the life of the mother. Nazi Germany's eugenics laws liberalized abortion for both Aryan and non-Aryan women. Aryan women could obtain an abortion simply by demonstrating that either parent had an hereditary defect, or that the child would be born with a congenital defect. Non-Aryan women were "encouraged" to utilize contraception and abortion in order to reduce their populations.
Teenage pregnancy in the United Kingdom
1967: Abortion was legalised in England, Wales and Scotland under the Abortion Act. The first legal abortions were performed on 27 April 1968.
Manifesto of the 343
The Manifesto of the 343 (French: "Manifeste des 343"), was a French petition signed by 343 women "who had the courage to say, 'I've had an abortion'". It was an act of civil disobedience, since abortion was illegal in France, and by admitting publicly to having aborted, they exposed themselves to criminal prosecution. The manifesto was published in the left-liberal French weekly magazine "Le Nouvel Observateur" on April 5, 1971.
The manifesto called for the legalization of abortion and free access to contraception. It paved the way to the adoption, in December 1974-January 1975, of the "Veil law", named for Health Minister Simone Veil, that repealed the penalty for voluntarily terminating a pregnancy during the first ten weeks (later extended to twelve weeks).
Birth control in the United States
Birth control practices were generally adopted earlier in Europe than in the United States. Knowlton's book was reprinted in 1877 in England by Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant, with the goal of challenging Britain's obscenity laws. They were arrested (and later acquitted) but the publicity of their trial contributed to the formation, in 1877, of the Malthusian League – the world's first birth control advocacy group – which sought to limit population growth to avoid Thomas Malthus' dire predictions of exponential population growth leading to worldwide poverty and famine. By 1930, similar societies had been established in nearly all European countries, and birth control began to find acceptance in most Western European countries, except Catholic Ireland, Spain, and France. As the birth control societies spread across Europe, so did birth control clinics. The first birth control clinic in the world was established in the Netherlands in 1882, run by the Netherlands' first female physician, Aletta Jacobs. The first birth control clinic in England was established in 1921 by Marie Stopes, in London.
Contraception was not restricted by law in the United States throughout most of the 19th century, but in the 1870s a social purity movement grew in strength, aimed at outlawing vice in general, and prostitution and obscenity in particular. Composed primarily of Protestant moral reformers and middle-class women, the Victorian-era campaign also attacked contraception, which was viewed as an immoral practice that promoted prostitution and venereal disease. Anthony Comstock, a grocery clerk and leader in the purity movement, successfully lobbied for the passage of the 1873 Comstock Act, a federal law prohibiting mailing of "any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion" as well as any form of contraceptive information. After passage of this first Comstock Act, he was appointed to the position of postal inspector Many states also passed similar state laws (collectively known as the "Comstock laws"), sometimes extending the federal law by additionally restricting contraceptives, including information about them and their distribution. Comstock was proud of the fact that he was personally responsible for thousands of arrests and the destruction of hundreds of tons of books and pamphlets.
Francis P. Filice
Prior to the late 1960s, abortion was illegal in every state of the United States, except in cases where the pregnancy posed a risk to the mother's life. This changed in 1967 when Colorado became the first state to legalize abortion in cases of rape, incest, or when there was a threat of permanent disability to the pregnant women. During this period, when the topic of overpopulation first became widely discussed, Filice recalls that not a month would pass when he did not receive, as a biology professor at USF, a free copy of a textbook which called into question population growth. The first such book was "The Population Bomb". Dr. Filice found the arguments made in such books unconvincing and began to speak against them at various meetings.
Women's rights
Under the Bolsheviks, Russia became the first country in human history to provide free abortions to women in state run hospitals.
Henry Morgentaler
In 1968, Morgentaler gave up his family practice and began performing abortions in his private clinic. At the time, abortion was illegal except for cases in which continuing a pregnancy threatened the life of the pregnant woman. On August 26, 1969, an amendment to the Criminal Code legalized abortion in Canada if performed in a hospital after approval of a Therapeutic Abortion Committee. There was, however, no requirement for a hospital to set up a committee and only about one-third of hospitals did, leaving many areas without legal abortion, forcing women to travel and inducing barriers and delays. Some committees never met. Even if they did, they never saw their "patient" and yet her fate was determined by their subjective opinions. In addition, there was no appeal of a TAC's decision. In effect, the system was grossly unfair. Morgentaler's abortions remained illegal under that new law because he did not submit them in advance to a TAC for approval; they became legal in 1988, when section 251 of the Criminal Code (now known as section 287) was found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Abortion in Trinidad and Tobago
Advocates for Safe Parenthood: Improving Reproductive Equity (ASPIRE) is a non-profit organization in Trinidad and Tobago that advocate for abortion law reform, better sexual education in schools, and contraceptive delivery services. They were the first organization to consistently strive to fight the government’s views and laws on abortion rights and established in 1999.They have participated in conducting studies on women’s health records concerning abortion, created model policies and laws, public media campaigns, and surveys over the past decade.
Marital rape
Recent countries to criminalize marital rape include Zimbabwe (2001), Turkey (2005), Cambodia (2005), Liberia (2006), Nepal (2006),
Mauritius (2007), Ghana (2007), Malaysia (2007), Thailand (2007), Rwanda (2009), Suriname (2009), Nicaragua (2012), Sierra Leone (2012), South Korea (2013), Bolivia (2013), Samoa (2013), Tonga (1999/2013). Human rights observers have criticized a variety of countries for failing to effectively prosecute marital rape once it has been criminalized. South Africa, which criminalized in 1993, saw its first conviction for marital rape in 2012.
Reproductive rights
Abortion in the United States is legal since the United States Supreme Court decision "Roe v. Wade" which decriminalised abortion nationwide in 1973, and established a minimal period during which abortion is legal (with more or fewer restrictions throughout the pregnancy). That basic framework, modified in "Planned Parenthood v. Casey" (1992), remains nominally in place, although the effective availability of abortion varies significantly from state to state, as many counties have no abortion providers. "Planned Parenthood v. Casey" held that a law cannot place legal restrictions imposing an undue burden for "the purpose or effect of placing a substantial obstacle in the path of a woman seeking an abortion of a nonviable fetus." Abortion is a controversial political issue, and regular attempts to restrict it occur in most states. One such case, originating in Texas, led to the Supreme Court case of "Whole Woman's Health v. Hellerstedt" (2016) in which several Texas restrictions were struck down.
Abortion in Uganda
Uganda, like a number of Commonwealth countries, whose legal systems are based the English common law, follows the holding of the 1938 English "Rex v. Bourne" decision in determining whether an abortion performed for health reasons is lawful. In the Bourne decision, a physician was acquitted of the offence of performing an abortion in the case of a woman who had been raped. The court ruled that the abortion was lawful because it had been performed to prevent the woman from becoming “a physical and mental wreck”, thus setting a precedent for future abortion cases performed on the grounds of preserving the pregnant woman’s physical and mental health. The liberalization and legality of abortion in Uganda has been complicated by the use of rape as a weapon of war and terror by rebel groups in the region."
Women in Australia
Abortion was illegal under all circumstances until the 1969 case R v Davidson (also known as the Menhennitt ruling). In this case, Justice Clifford Menhennitt ruled abortion could be considered legal if the physical and/or mental health or the life of the woman was endangered. The ruling was adopted in principle in New South Wales and Queensland in 1971 and 1984 respectively. As of 2018, abortion is legal in all Australian states and territories except for New South Wales and Queensland where it is considered a criminal offence for doctors and women unless the woman's physical and/or mental health is endangered. It is estimated that a quarter to a third of Australian women will have an abortion in their lifetime, and it has strong popular support.
Abortion in Sweden
Abortion in Sweden was first legislated by the Abortion Act of 1938. This stated that an abortion could be legally performed in Sweden upon medical, humanitarian, or eugenical grounds. That is, if the pregnancy constituted a serious threat to the woman's life, if she had been impregnated by rape, or if there was a considerable chance that any serious condition might be inherited by her child, she could request an abortion. The law was later augmented in 1946 to include socio-medical grounds and again in 1963 to include the risk of serious fetal damage. A committee investigated whether these conditions were met in each individual case and, as a result of this prolonged process, abortion was often not granted until the middle of the second trimester. As such, a new law was created in 1974, stating that the choice of an abortion is entirely up to the woman until the end of the eighteenth week.
Abortion in Hungary
Abortion in Hungary was subject to legal liberalization as early as 1953. The abortion law was changed three times since then, in 1956, 1973, and 1992. As a result of that Hungary has a liberal abortion law. While women must get the approval of a committee before having an abortion, a number of various hypothetical situations have been placed into the law allowing an abortion, so the request has become a mere formality.
Linda Coffee
Linda Coffee and Sarah Weddington argued in favor of Norma McCorvey, also known as Jane Roe, and her right to have an abortion in the case "Roe v Wade". Although Weddington is the attorney that is well known for this case, Coffee is the one that started it all by finding Norma McCorvey. This is key as without a pregnant woman they could not have challenged the anti-abortion laws in the United States. Women gaining the right to have an abortion during their first trimester of their pregnancy was a monumental ruling for many reasons. One is that it gives women the ability to have a safe abortion. Prior to this decision by the Supreme Court in places, like Texas, where it was illegal for a doctor to provide an abortion, women would perform abortions themselves which were extremely dangerous or if they could afford to do so they would go to areas where abortion was legal. The anti-abortion laws that existed in the United States before "Roe" were aimed at the doctors that performed abortions as opposed to the women that wanted abortions. It was argued that a woman has a constitutional right to have an abortion because of the Fourteenth Amendment. The Texas law that was challenged allowed women to have an abortion only if the women would die otherwise. It was Coffee that came up with the name Jane Roe. Even though Coffee was instrumental in this case it is Weddington that has received the fame and Coffee has faded into obscurity. According to Joshua Praguer what was important to Coffee was that women were able to get abortions in all of the states, she was not interested in the fame that could have come with "Roe".
Feminism in Canada
A significant concern of second wave feminists in Canada was access to abortion. Until 1969, abortion was a criminal offence under the Criminal Code, and women were dying from trying to procure abortions outside of the law. For these reasons, abortion was legalized by Parliament in 1969 under the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968–69. Abortion remained an offence, unless it was first approved by a Therapeutic Abortion Committee on the grounds that continuation of the pregnancy "would or would be likely to endanger her life or health". The abortion had to performed in a hospital rather than in a clinic. Only one in five hospitals had the committee required to approve of the operation resulting in many women crossing the border to the United States to receive one. By 1970, women nationwide mobilized to organize a cross-country abortion caravan from Vancouver to Ottawa that called for increased reproductive freedom, through increased access to abortion and birth control.
Women in Uruguay
The abortion law of Uruguay is very liberal compared to the other Latin American countries.
In 2012, Uruguay become the second country in Latin America, after Cuba, to legalize abortion on demand (during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy).
Feminism in Russia
In practice, Russian women saw mixed gains in their rights under Communism. Women's suffrage was granted, though voting meant little in Soviet society owing to the Communist Party's monopoly on power. This monopoly also meant that many independent feminist organizations and journals were shut down. Abortion was legalized in 1920, making the Soviet Union the first country to do so; however, it was banned again between 1936 and 1955. Generous maternity leave was legally required, and a national network of child-care centers was established. The country's first constitution recognized the equal rights of women.
Merle Hoffman
Shortly after New York State legalized abortion in 1970, three years before the Supreme Court's "Roe v. Wade" decision legalized abortion nationally, Hoffman helped establish one of the country's first ambulatory abortion centers, Flushing Women's Medical Center in 1971. It was the forerunner of Choices Women's Medical Center which Hoffman founded and serves as President and CEO. Choices is a full-service healthcare provider, offering gynecological services, pre-natal care, family care, transgender health care, telemedicine, mental health and other services.
Abortion in France
Illegal abortion rates remained fairly high during the post-war period, and increasing numbers of women began to travel to the United Kingdom to procure abortions after the UK legalized abortion in 1967. France legalized abortion in Law 75-17 of 18 January 1975, which permitted a woman to receive an abortion on request until the tenth week of pregnancy. After a trial period, Law 75-17 was adopted permanently in December 1979.
Abortion in India
It was in the 1960s, when abortion was legal in 15 countries, that deliberations on a legal framework for induced abortion in India was initiated. The alarming number of increase in abortions taking place put the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on alert. To address this, the Government of India instated a Committee in 1964 led by Shantilal Shah to come up with suggestions to draft the abortion law for India. The recommendations of this Committee were accepted in 1970 and introduced in the Parliament as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Bill. This bill was passed in August 1971 as the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act.It is estimated that 15.6 million abortions take place in India every year. A significant proportion of these are expected to be unsafe. Unsafe abortion is the third largest cause of maternal mortality leading to death of 10 women each day and thousands more facing morbidities. There is a need to strengthen women's access to CAC services and preventing deaths and disabilities faced by them.
Abortion in Lithuania
Abortion in Lithuania is legal and available on request until the twelfth week of pregnancy, and up to 22 weeks for medical reasons. While Lithuania was a Republic of the Soviet Union (as the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic), abortions were regulated by the Government of the Soviet Union.
Marriage law
In 1989, Denmark became the first country in the modern era to give same-sex couples the right to formalize their relation as a registered partnership. , twenty four countries have come to recognize same-sex marriages for civil purposes, namely the Netherlands, Belgium, Spain, Canada, South Africa, Norway, Sweden, Portugal, Iceland, Argentina, Denmark, Brazil, France, Uruguay, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Luxembourg, Finland, Ireland, and the United States. Denmark gave same-sex couples the right to marry in 2013, and this right extends to a right to get married in the Church of Denmark, although individual priests have the right to refuse to perform such marriages. On June 26, 2015, Supreme Court of the United States ruled that the ban on same-sex marriages were "de jure" unconstitutional, which "de facto" legalized the same-sex marriage process in the United States.
Feminism in Poland
Formally abortion was legalized in Poland almost 20 years earlier than in the United States and France (but later than in Scandinavian countries), equality of sexes was granted, sexual education was gradually introduced into schools, and contraceptives were legal and subsidised by the state. In reality, however, equality of sexes was never realized and contraceptives were of such a bad quality that abortion became an important method of planned parenthood. Those real problems were never officially recognized and any discussion of them was forbidden.
Pregnancy
An abortion is the termination of an embryo or fetus, either naturally or via medical methods. When done electively, it is more often done within the first trimester than the second, and rarely in the third. Not using contraception, contraceptive failure, poor family planning or rape can lead to undesired pregnancies. Legality of socially indicated abortions varies widely both internationally and through time. In most countries of Western Europe, abortions during the first trimester were a criminal offense a few decades ago but have since been legalized, sometimes subject to mandatory consultations. In Germany, for example, as of 2009 less than 3% of abortions had a medical indication.
Paper abortion
The concept of a paper abortion was first introduced in Denmark in 2000 by the socioeconomicist Henrik Platz. He says that it is necessary from an egalitarian perspective, to ensure that women and men have equal rights under the law. According to a Gallup poll from 2014 and earlier polls, between 40% and 70% of Danes agree with legalizing paper abortion.
Abortion in Cambodia
According to a study conducted by BMC, 40 percent every 32 women’s deaths reported in Cambodia, resulted from unsafe Abortion. According to another a report by the Guttmacher Institute, abortion, despite being legal in the county, is not widely available because of the shame and stigma attached to it, thus forcing women to opt for alternative unsafe routes like “deep massage abortion” — a traditional practice. Abortion has a history in Cambodia and one of the traditional methods of deep massage abortion - where pressure is applied to a pregnant woman’s stomach to abort the fetus, can be seen in one of the stone carvings in the 12th century temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. The next carving shows that the same woman and the people who helped her in terminating the pregnancy by massage of abdomen, are condemned to ‘underworld”.
Abortion in Italy
Abortion in Italy became legal in May 1978, when Italian women were allowed to terminate a pregnancy on request during the first 90 days. A proposal to repeal the law was considered in a 1981 national referendum, but was rejected by nearly 68% of voters; another referendum aimed at eliminating the restrictions was rejected by 88.4%.
Italian women are eligible to request an abortion for health, economic or social reasons, including the circumstances under which conception occurred. Abortions are performed free-of-charge in public hospitals or in private structures authorized by the regional health authorities. The law also allows termination in the second trimester of the pregnancy only when the life of the woman would be at risk if the pregnancy is carried to term or the fetus carries genetic or other serious malformations which would put the mother at risk of serious psychological or physical consequences.
United States abortion-rights movement
Prior to 1973, abortion rights in the United States were not seen as a constitutional issue. Abortion was seen as a purely state matter, all of which had some type of restrictions. The first legal restrictions on abortion appeared in the 1820s, forbidding abortion after the fourth month of pregnancy. By 1900, legislators at the urgings of the American Medical Association (AMA) had enacted laws banning abortion in most U.S. states. The AMA played a vital role in stigmatizing abortions by using their status and power to create a moral stance against abortion. The AMA viewed abortion providers as unwanted healthcare competitors. Due to the high maternal morbidity and mortality rates caused by back alley abortions, physicians, nurses, and social workers pushed for legalization of abortion from a pro-public health perspective. Support for abortion rights went beyond feminists and medical professions. The broad support for legalizing abortion in the 1960s also derived from certain religious leaders. For example, there were 1,400 clergy operating on the East Coast for the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion—an underground network that connected women seeking abortions to doctors—during the 1960s. As the historian Christine Stansell explained, many religious leaders came to approach the abortion rights argument from a position of individual conscience instead of from dogma by witnessing the "strains unwanted pregnancies put on members of their congregations".
History of abortion
The Vedic and "smrti" laws of India reflected a concern with preserving the male seed of the three upper castes; and the religious courts imposed various penances for the woman or excommunication for a priest who provided an abortion. The only evidence of the death penalty being mandated for abortion in the ancient laws is found in Assyrian Law, in the Code of Assura, c. 1075 BC; and this is imposed only on a woman who procures an abortion against her husband's wishes. The first recorded evidence of induced abortion is from the Egyptian Ebers Papyrus in 1550 BC.
Marital rape
Countries which were early to criminalize marital rape include the Soviet Union (1922), Poland (1932), Czechoslovakia (1950), some other members of the Communist Bloc, Sweden (1965), and Norway (1971). Slovenia, then a republic within federal Yugoslavia, criminalized marital rape in 1977. The Israeli Supreme Court affirmed that marital rape is a crime in a 1980 decision, citing law based on the Talmud (at least 6th century). Criminalization in Australia began with the state of New South Wales in 1981, followed by all other states from 1985 to 1992. Several formerly British-ruled countries followed suit: Canada (1983), New Zealand (1985), and Ireland (1990).
Women's rights
Russia was the first country to legalise abortions and offer free medical care in state hospitals to do so. After the October Revolution, the Women's wing of the Bolshevik Party (the Zhenotdel) persuaded the Bolsheviks to legalise abortion (as a 'temporary measure'). The Bolsheviks legalised abortion in November 1920. This was the first time in world history that women had won the right to free abortions in state hospitals.
History of abortion
India enforced the Indian Penal Code from 1860 to 1971, criminalizing abortion and punishing both the practitioners and the women who sought out the procedure. As a result, women died in an attempt to obtain illegal abortions from unqualified midwives and "doctors". Abortion was made legal under specific circumstances in 1971, but as scholar S. Chandrasekhar notes, lower class women still find themselves at a greater risk of injury or death as a result of a botched abortion.
Poland
Feminism in Poland started in the 1800s in the age of the foreign Partitions. Poland's precursor of feminism, Narcyza Żmichowska, founded a group of Suffragettes in 1842. Prior to the last Partition in 1795, tax-paying females were allowed to take part in political life. Since 1918, following the return to independence, all women could vote. Poland was the 15th (12th sovereign) country to introduce universal women's suffrage. Currently, in Poland abortion is allowed only in special circumstances, such as when the woman's life or health is endangered by the continuation of pregnancy, when the pregnancy is a result of a criminal act, or when the fetus is seriously malformed. Homosexuality in Poland was confirmed as legal in 1932. Also, Poland recognises gender change. Trafficking women is 'illegal and rare' (top results worldwide).
Poland's current constitution was adopted by the National Assembly of Poland on 2 April 1997, approved by a national referendum on 25 May 1997, and came into effect on 17 October 1997. It guarantees a multi-party state, the freedoms of religion, speech and assembly, and specifically casts off many Communist ideals to create a 'free market economic system'. It requires public officials to pursue ecologically sound public policy and acknowledges the inviolability of the home, the right to form trade unions, and to strike, whilst at the same time prohibiting the practices of forced medical experimentation, torture and corporal punishment.
Abortion in Russia
Abortion in Russia is legal as an elective procedure up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and in special circumstances at later stages. In 1920, Russian Soviet Republic became the first country in the world to allow abortion in all circumstances, but over the course of the 20th century, the legality of abortion changed more than once, with a ban being enacted again from 1936 to 1955. Russia had the highest number of abortions per woman of child-bearing age in the world according to UN data as of 2010. In terms of the total number, in 2009 China reported that it had over 13 million abortions, out of a population of 1.3 billion, compared to the 1.2 million abortions in Russia, out of a population of 143 million people.
History of abortion
The English law on abortion was first codified in legislation under sections 1 and 2 of Malicious Shooting or Stabbing Act 1803. The Bill was proposed by the Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales, Edward Law, 1st Baron Ellenborough to clarify the law relating to abortion and was the first law to explicitly outlaw it. The Act provided that it was an offence for any person to perform or cause an abortion. The punishment for performing or attempting to perform a post quickening abortion was the death penalty (section 1) and otherwise was transportation for fourteen years (section 2). In 19th-century America, there was little regulation of abortion, in the tradition of English common law, pre quickening abortions were considered at most a misdemeanor. These cases proved difficult to prosecute as the testimony of the mother was usually the only means to determine when quickening had occurred.
Abortion in Japan
In 1842, the Shogunate in Japan banned induced abortion in Edo, but the law did not affect the rest of the country until 1869, when abortion was banned nationwide. However, the crime was rarely punished unless the conception was a result of adultery or the woman died as a result of the abortion procedure.
Abortion law
In the United Kingdom, the Abortion Act of 1967 clarified and prescribed abortions as legal up to 24 weeks. Other countries soon followed, including Canada (1969), the United States (1973 in most states, pursuant to "Roe v. Wade", the federal Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion nationwide), Tunisia (1973), Austria (1974), France (1975), Sweden (1975), New Zealand (1977), Italy (1978), the Netherlands (1980), and Belgium (1990). However, these countries vary greatly in the circumstances under which abortion was to be 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 12 weeks legal. In jurisdictions governed under sharia law, abortion after 120th day from conception (19 weeks from LMP) is illegal, especially for those who follow the recommendations of the Hanafi legal school, while most jurists of the Maliki legal school "believe that ensoulment occurs at the moment of conception, and they tend to forbid abortion at any point [similar to the Roman Catholic Church]. The other schools hold intermediate positions. [..] The penalty prescribed for an illegal abortion varies according to particular circumstances involved. According to sharia, it should be limited to a fine that is paid to the father or heirs of the fetus". See also: Islam and abortion.
Birth control movement in the United States
Birth control practices were generally adopted earlier in Europe than in the United States. Knowlton's book was reprinted in 1877 in England by Charles Bradlaugh and Annie Besant, with the goal of challenging Britain's obscenity laws. They were arrested (and later acquitted) but the publicity of their trial contributed to the formation, in 1877, of the Malthusian League – the world's first birth control advocacy group – which sought to limit population growth to avoid Thomas Malthus's dire predictions of exponential population growth leading to worldwide poverty and famine. By 1930, similar societies had been established in nearly all European countries, and birth control began to find acceptance in most Western European countries, except Catholic Ireland, Spain, and France. As the birth control societies spread across Europe, so did birth control clinics. The first birth control clinic in the world was established in the Netherlands in 1882, run by the Netherlands' first female physician, Aletta Jacobs. The first birth control clinic in England was established in 1921 by Marie Stopes, in London.
Contraception was legal in the United States throughout most of the 19th century, but in the 1870s a social purity movement grew in strength, aimed at outlawing vice in general, and prostitution and obscenity in particular. Composed primarily of Protestant moral reformers and middle-class women, the Victorian-era campaign also attacked contraception, which was viewed as an immoral practice that promoted prostitution and venereal disease. Anthony Comstock, a postal inspector and leader in the purity movement, successfully lobbied for the passage of the 1873 Comstock Act, a federal law prohibiting mailing of "any article or thing designed or intended for the prevention of conception or procuring of abortion" as well as any form of contraceptive information. Many states also passed similar state laws (collectively known as the "Comstock laws"), sometimes extending the federal law by outlawing the "use" of contraceptives, as well as their distribution. Comstock was proud of the fact that he was personally responsible for thousands of arrests and the destruction of hundreds of tons of books and pamphlets.
Planned Parenthood
Planned Parenthood began to advocate abortion law reform beginning in 1955, when the organization's medical director, Mary Calderone, convened a national conference of medical professionals on the issue. The conference was the first instance of physicians and other professionals advocating reform of the laws which criminalized abortion, and it played a key role in creating a movement for the reform of abortion laws in the U.S. Focusing, at first, on legalizing therapeutic abortion, Planned Parenthood became an increasingly vocal proponent of liberalized abortion laws during the 1960s, culminating in its call for the repeal of all anti-abortion laws in 1969. In the years that followed, the organization played a key role in landmark abortion rights cases such as "Roe v Wade" (1973) and "Planned Parenthood v Casey" (1992). Once abortion was legalized during the early 1970s, Planned Parenthood also began acting as an abortion provider.
Abortion in Nepal
Nepal legalised abortion in March 2002, under the 11th Amendment to the Civil Code. The legal services was successfully implemented on December 25, 2003. The high maternal mortality rates in Nepal lead to the government legalising it. More than 5,00,000 women sought abortion between 2004-2014.