CATALYST PLANET - Where is the World on Abortion?

As abortion makes headlines around the world due to the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, it is also a contested issue globally.

Abortion rights protest in Minnesota, 2019. Fibonacci Blue. CC-BY-2.0.

Countries around the world have a variety of abortion laws, ranging from being always available regardless of circumstance (some of these countries do have gestational limits) to being banned outright, with no exceptions. Despite the variety of laws, the decision of the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) on June 24th makes the America one of only two countries—along with Nicaragua—to tighten abortion restrictions since 2000. The global tendency in the 21st century has been to expand abortion availability, even in generally conservative countries.

Several world leaders made critical statements of the historic decision, with both Prime Minister Justin Trudeau of Canada and Prime Minister Boris Johnson of the United Kingdom making the unusual choices to issue statements before U.S. President Joe Biden. Prime Minister Johnson as well as several other world leaders including Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez of Spain and Prime Minister Gahr Støre of Norway referred to the ruling as a “step back” for women’s rights. President Emmanuel Macron of France described abortion as “a fundamental right for all women,” condemning the SCOTUS decision. While the primary response from world leaders was disappointment given its deviance from global trends, some leaders did express admiration. In particular, the son of the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted “the defense of life resurfaces in the United States”.

Latin American countries specifically have had several wins for pro-choice advocates in the past few years, despite being known for being socially conservative. Mexico, Argentina and Colombia have recently decriminalized abortion, with abortion being widely available in Colombia and only allowed in cases of rape and life threatening fetal complications in Argentina. Mexico has abortion laws that vary state by state, like the U.S., but it is not a federal crime. Additionally, abortion is currently still illegal in all cases in Chile, but there has been a push within the past year to amend the constitution to protect abortion federally.

Pro-choice protester in Colombia. Laura Avellaneda-Cruz. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

In both Asia and Europe, in the general sense, abortion is available and legal, with a few exceptions. In Europe, Poland has the strictest laws, with abortion only being legal in cases of rape, incest or danger to the woman’s life. In fact, many pro-choice activists in Poland worry that women may begin to be questioned and even prosecuted for miscarriages that are suspected to be unauthorized abortions, a fear that is growing in the U.S. as well following the overturn of Roe v. Wade. Finland and the U.K. follow Poland in being the most conservative European countries when it comes to abortion, but abortion is still widely available in both countries. In the U.K., a doctor must confirm that an abortion is necessary in their opinion, regardless of financial constraints as well as social circumstances (housing, age, etc.). In Finland, abortion is available prior to 12 weeks gestation for a variety of reasons including but not limited to finances, health and age. However, after 12 weeks the circumstances must be quite dire to obtain an abortion in Finland.

Abortion is widely available in most East Asian countries, though South Korea only decriminalized abortion in 2021. In Asia, abortion laws are the most strict in Laos, the Phillipines and Iraq, with abortion being illegal under all circumstances in all three countries. All other countries in Asia have a range of abortion laws, from only being allowed in very limited and serious circumstances, to being available on demand regardless of cinrcumstance. The Center for Reproductive Rights has a world map displaying the most up to date abortion policies for every country in the world.

Anti-abortion protester. Steve Rhodes. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

South Africa, Mozambique, Benin and Tunisia have the most liberal and least restrictive abortion laws in Africa. These countries allow abortion upon request, with varying limits in regards to how long into pregnancy.

The six countries in Africa to completely ban abortion are Madagascar, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Sierra Leone, Senegal, Mauritania and Egypt. With that being said, many other countries in Africa have extremely strict abortion laws despite not banning it outright. However, in keeping with the global trend of expanding the legality of abortion as opposed to restricting it, 19 countries in Africa have expanded the grounds for abortion since 1994.

Canada is one of the most liberal countries regarding abortion and currently has no laws limiting abortion. Unlike many other countries with progressive abortion laws, Canada does not have any gestational limits in place, which sets it apart on the global scale. The only other countries in the world without gestational limits on abortion are China and Vietnam.

Abortion protest poster. Steve Rhodes. CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

As of June 24th 2022, the United States now has drastically differing laws between states, with some states banning abortion outright, and others having abortion available upon request with no reason necessary. The U.S. in particular is subject to changing laws throughout the next few months, as the precedent for abortion rights changed drastically in June. The U.S. took an unprecedented turn in terms of the global landscape by severely limiting abortion access in June.

Abortion laws will undoubtedly continue to change globally throughout the coming years, as abortion is a contentious issue nearly everywhere in the world. However, the past few decades indicate that abortion is likely to generally become more available and accepted as opposed to less, with the recent U.S. Supreme Court decision being an obvious exception which could have global ripple effects.