59 rows However abortion is legal in 58 of 193 member states of the United Nations. Kenyas High Court rules the withdrawal of 2012 standards and guidelines on Reducing Maternal Mortality and Morbidity from Unsafe Abortion in Kenya illegal holding abortion lawful on both physical and mental health grounds Iceland to have one of Europes most liberal abortion laws permitting abortion on request up to 22 weeks.
How Do America S Abortion Laws Compare To The Rest Of The World S
Abortion in Liechtenstein is illegal in almost all circumstances and is punishable by prison terms for the woman and the physician.
In what countries is abortion illegal. The most recent available estimates of unsafe abortion rates according to geographical region are shown in Figure 1. Vatican City and Malta both have deemed abortion illegal without any exception where the former has done it based on religious grounds more than anything. Under laws dating back to the Offences against the Person Act 1861 it is currently illegal to have an abortion in the country and the maximum sentence is life imprisonment.
Chile Dominican Republic El Salvador and Nicaragua have the procedure banned also no matter what the situation is. However abortions are de facto allowed to save the mothers life. El Salvador and Chile are among the few remaining countries that have total bans on abortion.
The exceptions are Malta El Salvador Nicaragua and Dominican Republic. Restrictive abortion laws in some countries are often due to old colonial laws. Between 1950 and 1985 almost all developed countries liberalized their abortion laws for reasons of human rights and safety.
Malta is the only country in the European Union to prohibit abortion entirely. An attempt to legalise it in 2011 was defeated by voters. The six countries that outlaw abortions under any circumstances are Chile the Dominican Republic El Salvador Nicaragua Vatican City and Malta according to Pew.
All the countries in the world where abortion is illegal Tracy Ramsden March 6 2017 440 pm As women worldwide face the greatest threat to our reproductive rights for 40 years we look at the. Like China India is also a densely populated country where abortion is legal on broad grounds but in India a large proportion of induced abortions are still performed in unsafe conditions outside the official health system. These laws form the basis of the restrictive legislation on abortion that still exist in many developing countries.
All but a handful of countries allow an abortion to be performed when the life of the mother is at risk. According to the World Health Organization findings the legality of abortion across the world has little. 190 rows In 37 countries abortion is illegal unless it saves the mothers life and in others it is illegal unless used to save the mothers life or preserve her health.
This means that abortion is illegal in both countries even if a womans or girls life or health is at risk if the fetus is not viable or if the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. But these three countries fall solidly in the middle of the pack when we rank how common it is for people to be close to someone who has had an abortion ranging from 38 to 31. Support for unrestricted abortion is highest in Sweden France and Great Britain ranging from 78 to 66.
There are only six countries in the world where abortion is illegal with no exceptions whatsoever. The World Health Organization WHO has reported on the number of abortions performed in all countries whether abortion is legal or illegal.