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PARIS — As France becomes the only country to explicitly guarantee the right to abortion in its constitution, other Europeans watch the U.S. rollback access to abortion and wonder if it could happen here too. I’m thinking.
Abortion is widely legal across Europe, and governments have gradually expanded abortion rights, with some exceptions. Abortion is available to women in more than 40 European countries, from Portugal to Russia, but there are varying rules regarding how far into the third trimester it is allowed. Abortion is prohibited or severely restricted in Poland and several small countries.
A 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning long-held abortion rights prompted an overwhelming vote in the French parliament on Monday to declare that “women’s freedom to resort to abortion is guaranteed.” An additional constitutional amendment was passed.
Here we take a look at recent developments regarding abortion rights in several European countries.
Poland
Catholic-majority Poland bans abortion in almost all cases, except when the woman’s life or health is at risk or in cases of rape or incest. For many years, abortion was allowed in cases of fetuses with congenital defects. It was deprecated in 2020.
This restriction has resulted in deaths, primarily among women in the third trimester of pregnancy who were hoping to have children. Women’s rights activists said that doctors in Poland are now not performing abortions, instead allowing fetuses with no chance of survival to die in the womb. In such cases, several women developed sepsis and died.
Abortion has become a hot topic under the new administration. Many of those who elected President Donald Tusk’s government want the law to be loosened, but there is also resistance from conservatives within the coalition. Politicians are debating whether to settle the matter with a referendum.
uk
Abortion is partially legal in the UK under the Abortion Act 1967, which allows abortions up to 24 weeks of pregnancy with the approval of two doctors. A subsequent abortion is permitted in some circumstances, such as when the mother’s life is at risk.
However, women who have an abortion after 24 weeks in England and Wales can be prosecuted under the Offenses in Persons Act 1861. Last year, a 45-year-old woman in the UK was sentenced to 28 months in prison for ordering abortion pills online to induce a miscarriage between 32 and 34 weeks into her pregnancy. After an outcry, her sentence was commuted.
Lawmakers are scheduled to vote this month on whether to remove relevant provisions of the 1861 law, but doctors who help women end pregnancies with late-term abortions could still be prosecuted. Abortion is not as divisive an issue in the UK as it is in the US, and the amendment is likely to garner enough bipartisan support to pass.
western balkans
The communist former Yugoslavia began expanding abortion rights in the 1950s and enshrined the right in its 1974 constitution. The provision reads as follows: This right can only be restricted for health protection reasons. ”
The former republic has kept old abortion laws in place after a bloody war tore them apart in the 1990s, but they are seen as falling short of the guarantees France made Thursday.
In Serbia, for example, the 2006 constitution states that “everyone has the right to decide on childbearing.” There have been calls for it to be repealed, but only from a minority.
In staunchly Catholic Croatia, influential conservatives and religious groups have tried without success to ban abortion. However, many doctors refuse to perform abortions, forcing Croatian women to travel to neighboring countries for surgeries. In 2022, protests erupted in Croatia after a woman was denied an abortion despite her baby having health problems.
malta
Last year, Malta relaxed the European Union’s strictest abortion laws after an American tourist who miscarried had to be airlifted from the Mediterranean island nation for treatment.
Malta’s new law remains strict, requiring a woman to be in danger of death in order to obtain an abortion, and only with the consent of three experts. If there is an immediate risk of death, only one physician’s approval is required.
Until the new law is enacted, Malta prohibits abortion for any reason, with the law requiring up to three years in prison for obtaining an abortion and up to four years in prison for helping a woman become pregnant. It was a punishable crime.
Italy and San Marino
Italy has resisted Vatican pressure and guaranteed access to abortion since 1978, requiring women to request it within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy or even later if their health or life is at risk. Pregnancies can be terminated if necessary.
A 1978 law allows medical personnel to register as conscientious objectors in the predominantly Roman Catholic country, but in practice severely restricts women’s access to surgery. They are often forced to travel long distances to undergo surgery.
San Marino, a small country surrounded by Italy and one of the world’s oldest republics, criminalized abortion in all circumstances until 2022, when abortion was legalized in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. It was one of the last states in Europe.
Russia
Abortion is legal and widely available in Russia, but authorities are demanding access to it as President Vladimir Putin defends “traditional values” in a bid to rally people around the national flag and spur population growth. are actively trying to limit it.
Women in Russia are free to terminate their pregnancies at any stage up to 12 weeks without any conditions, including in case of rape or for medical reasons.
Pressure on abortion rights increased after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Starting in 2023, seven regions of Russia have passed laws punishing those who “force” women to have abortions.
In many regions and in Russian-occupied Crimea, private clinics refuse to perform abortions and instead force women into state-run health facilities, where it takes time to get an appointment and doctors often ask women to get pregnant. pressure to continue.
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Associated Press writers Vanessa Guerra in Warsaw, Poland, Jill Lawless in London, Nicole Winfield in Rome, Jovana Czek in Belgrade, Serbia, Dasha Litvinova in Tallinn, Estonia and Katie Marie Davis in Manchester, England contributed to this report.
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