In the US, the overturning of Roe v. Wade proves that abortion rights are fragile. Around the world, voluntary abortion is still prohibited in almost fifteen countries.
The United States Supreme Court on Friday (June 24) overturned the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision that guaranteed abortion as a constitutional right in the country. This repeal now allows each state to legislate according to its beliefs regarding voluntary termination of pregnancy.
A 50-year comeback for women’s rights that seems to defy the global march. Indeed, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, nearly 50 countries have liberalized abortion in the past two decades. France, for its part, strengthened the outlines of the practice last February, passing a bill extending its legal period from 12 to 14 weeks. But worldwide, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights, more than 41 percent of women of reproductive age live in countries with restrictive laws.
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Countries where abortion is completely banned
in America
Abortion is completely illegal in Central America, Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua. In Nicaragua, the act is prohibited under all circumstances. If until 2006 the law still allowed pregnant women to have an abortion in cases of rape or endangering their health, a new measure that came into force in 2008 finally repealed these exceptions. Women living in the Caribbean islands of the Dominican Republic (Caribbean) and Suriname (South America) face this ban.
In Europe
The total ban on abortion in Europe is an exception, with the exception, in particular, of Malta, where abortion is completely criminalized. Women who resort to it and doctors who practice it face penalties that can range from three to four years in prison. On 27 June 2022, 135 Maltese doctors filed a legal challenge against this ban. The Vatican and Andorra also prohibit the medical procedure.
in Africa and Asia
Egypt, Senegal, Gabon, Madagascar and Mauritania are completely outlawed. Mauritania’s assembly has twice refused to revise its measures on abortion. Any woman who accesses it is therefore liable to prison terms ranging from one to five years, according to the United Nations.
Countries with restricted access to abortion
In other countries around the world, abortion is allowed, but remains under extreme restrictions. Poland, for example, allows abortion only in these cases: rape or incest and endangering the life of the mother. This latter condition also acts as the only valid reason for termination of pregnancy in many Middle Eastern countries, including Libya, Iraq, Lebanon, and Syria. The same in Afghanistan, Yemen, Bangladesh, Burma, Sri Lanka, Guatemala, Paraguay and Venezuela.
Access to abortion in Brazil is still very limited. Voluntary termination of pregnancy is permitted only in cases of rape, danger to the mother or serious fetal defects. Recently, an incident made a big noise in the country. President Jair Bolsonaro called it truly “unacceptable” that an 11-year-old girl legally terminated her pregnancy after being raped. The teenager also had to face a trying legal battle before getting an abortion.
Abortion has been legal in Italy since 1978, but abortion is impossible in some regions. According to a report published in 2021 by the Italian Ministry of Health, almost 67 percent of gynecologists still refused abortion in 2019. Under the question mark? The clause of doctors’ conscience, which allows them, as in France, to oppose the patient’s decision and not perform the act for personal, professional or ethical reasons.
Growing countries
Recently, major advances on a global scale should be highlighted. Thus, from February 21, 2022, Colombia authorized its citizens to use voluntary termination of pregnancy up to the sixth month of pregnancy. A historic decision in this largely Catholic and conservative Latin American country.
On April 28, 2021, Ecuador decriminalized abortion for cases of rape. Until then, the country only allowed it if the pregnancy endangered the mother’s life or with evidence of fetal malformation. The same development by Thailand in February 2021, which now allows women to terminate up to 12 weeks of amenorrhea.
According to the data of the World Health Organization (WHO) on November 25, 2021, every year there is a voluntary termination of pregnancy worldwide. According to the institution’s calculations, 25 million of them are carried out in dangerous conditions for women.
Source: Le Figaro
