Activists calling for the approval of a bill that would legalize abortion demonstrate in front of the Argentine Congress in Buenos Aires (AFP Photo/Eitan ABRAMOVICH) |
Paris (AFP) - Abortion, which Argentine lawmakers on Thursday voted to legalise, is banned in some 20 countries worldwide, while others have highly restrictive laws in place.
Here is a
snapshot of the global situation:
Total ban
Predominantly
Catholic Malta is the only European Union country to totally ban abortion,
imposing jail terms of between 18 months and three years if the law is broken.
Abortion is
also banned in Andorra, the Vatican and San Marino, which are in Europe but not
the EU.
Globally
there are total bans in Congo-Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo,
Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Honduras,
Laos, Madagascar, Mauritania, Nicaragua, Philippines, Palau, Senegal and
Suriname.
In El
Salvador the internationally criticised criminalisation of those found to have
terminated pregnancies has led to women being sentenced to jail terms of up to
30 years.
Restricted
Many
countries allow abortions in cases where the mother's life is deemed to be in
danger.
A partial
list includes: Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Guatemala, Iraq, Ivory Coast, Lebanon,
Myanmar, Paraguay, South Sudan, Syria, Uganda, Venezuela, West Bank/Gaza and
Yemen.
In
Argentina abortion is currently illegal except in cases of rape or when the
life or health of the woman is at risk.
Legislation
that will decriminalize it during the first 14 weeks of pregnancy, and beyond
that in cases where the foetus suffers from conditions not compatible with life
outside the womb, will now go before the Senate.
In Brazil
the law only allows terminations in cases of rape, risk to the life of the
mother or if the foetus is missing part or all of the brain.
Last
September Chile lifted a strict ban, which had been in force for decades, when
then president Michelle Bachelet signed into law legislation to decriminalise
abortion in certain cases, including on health issues.
On May 22 a
decades-old abortion ban went to South Korea's supreme court.
Pressure
for change
Women from
Europe and North America benefit from the most liberal legislation, with some
notable exceptions.
Unlike the
rest of the United Kingdom, abortion is also illegal in the province of Northern
Ireland except when the mother's life is in danger.
On June 7
Britain's Supreme Court said it would have declared Northern Ireland's abortion
laws incompatible with human rights legislation if not for a procedural
technicality in what pro-choice campaigners hailed as a victory.
In late
May, more than 66 percent of voters in traditionally Catholic Ireland voted by
a landslide to ditch its strict abortion laws, where abortion is only allowed
if a mother's life in at risk, in a referendum. New legislation is now being
drawn up.
In EU
member Poland, which has one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the bloc,
a new bill submitted my ultra-conservatives would restrict abortion even
further. The bill unleashed mass demonstrations across the country.
In the
United States abortion was legalised nationwide in 1973, but this has been
under pressure since Donald Trump became president, with some Republicans
seeking restrictions.
The US
state of Iowa in early May signed into law a ban on abortions once a foetal
heartbeat is detected, which occurs as early as six weeks into a pregnancy. The
Midwestern state now has the strictest legislation on abortion in the US.
(Sources:
Guttmacher Institute, World Health Organization, Center for Reproductive
Rights, AFP)
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