A look at some of the world’s toughest abortion laws

New limits on abortion rights are being pursued within the US and different international locations.

A professional-abortion rights demonstrator holds up a garments hanger throughout a protest exterior the US Supreme Court docket [Elizabeth Frantz/Reuters]

Amnesty Worldwide has “fervently” referred to as on United States authorities to guard the correct of abortion because the nation’s prime courtroom seems set to vote to overturn the Roe v Wade choice that legalised abortion nationwide, in line with a leaked preliminary draft majority opinion revealed by Politico on Monday.

“Whereas strikes to decriminalise and legalise abortion in locations like Argentina, Eire, Mexico and Colombia in the previous couple of years have been an enormous win for the worldwide group, there are grim indicators that the USA is out of step with the progress that the remainder of the world is making in defending sexual and reproductive rights,” Amnesty’s Secretary Common Agnes Callamard mentioned on Tuesday.

“We fervently name on the US authorities to guard the correct to authorized and protected abortion. Something much less could be a gross failure to uphold human rights, together with the rights to life, well being, bodily autonomy, privateness and dignity” Callamard added.

As new limits on abortion rights are pursued within the US and different international locations, here's a take a look at world abortion statistics and a few of the world’s strictest abortion legal guidelines:

• There are 16 international locations the place abortion is prohibited altogether, an inventory that features Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines, Laos, Senegal, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, in line with the Heart for Reproductive Rights.
• About three dozen different international locations enable it solely to save lots of the lifetime of the mom, an inventory that features Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan and Myanmar. Round 40 p.c of ladies of reproductive age reside in locations the place abortion entry is unlawful or restricted.
• In January 2021, Poland enforce a constitutional courtroom choice prohibiting abortions carried out attributable to fetal defects, banning the most typical of the few authorized grounds for terminating a being pregnant within the largely Catholic nation.
• El Salvador has a few of the world’s strictest abortion legal guidelines, with the process banned with out exception since 1998. Greater than 180 girls who skilled obstetric emergencies had been prosecuted for abortion or aggravated murder previously 20 years.
• Girls in Malta are denied entry to abortion, even when their lives are in danger. It's the solely European Union member state that utterly prohibits the process. Girls who've abortions withstand three years in jail.
• Senegal prohibits abortion, however its code of medical ethics permits it if three medical doctors agree it's wanted to save lots of a girl’s life. A 2014 research confirmed the foundations pressure girls to hunt clandestine abortions and, as a final resort, kill their very own infants.
• Within the United Arab Emirates, abortion is unlawful besides if the being pregnant endangers the girl’s life or there's proof the newborn won't survive. Girls might withstand one yr in jail and a hefty superb. Girls who search hospital therapy for a miscarriage could also be accused of tried abortion.
• Anti-abortion legal guidelines within the Philippines derive from its time as a Spanish colony. Abortion has been prohibited for greater than a century. About 1,000 Filipino girls die every year from issues. Spain is amongst greater than 50 international locations which have liberalised abortion legal guidelines over the previous quarter century.
• Chile in 2017 ended nearly 30 years of a blanket ban and now permits interventions for rape, or if the lifetime of the mom or child is in danger. Chilean lawmakers permitted a proposal final September to decriminalise abortions as much as 14 weeks after conception although the senate nonetheless has to debate and vote on the matter.
• In Eire, abortion turned authorized in 2018 after a lot debate and following a referendum that overturned a constitutional ban. The next yr noticed liberalisation in Northern Eire, which had been the only a part of the UK nonetheless holding out. The UK had legalised abortion with a 1967 act of parliament.