Abortion in Europe

Abortion in Europe varies considerably between countries and territories due to differing national laws and policies on its legality, availability of the procedure, and alternative forms of support for pregnant women and their families.

In most European countries, abortion is generally permitted within a term limit below fetal viability (e.g. 12 weeks in Germany and Italy, or 14 weeks in France and Spain), although a wide range of exceptions permit abortion later in the pregnancy.^[1][2] The longest term limits – in terms of gestation – are in the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands, both at 24 weeks of gestation.

Abortion is subsidized or fully funded in many European countries.^[1] Grounds for abortion are highly restricted in Poland and in the smaller jurisdictions of Monaco, Liechtenstein, Malta and the Faroe Islands, and abortion is prohibited in Andorra.^[3]

The European Court of Human Rights, summarising its abortion-related case law, in the Vo v France ruling in 2004, noted the "diversity of views on the point at which life begins, of legal cultures and of national standards of protection" and therefore, in a European context, the nation-state "has been left with considerable discretion in the matter."^[4]

History[edit]

Abortions have taken place either within or outside the law throughout European history, alongside initiatives by opponents of abortion to provide alternatives where a pregnancy is difficult or unwanted. These have included kinship care by families and friendship circles in every culture, the adoption and fostering of alumni children in Roman society, and the oblation of children who were given into the care of monastic institutions if a family was unable to provide adequate care.^[5] In the modern era, formal support services have included adoption, fostering and foundling hospitals.

Ancient Greece and Rome[edit]

Debates around abortion, pregnancy and the beginning of life were common in Greek and Roman philosophy and medicine, and would have also been known in cultures which have not left a written record. The medical writer Soranus of Ephesus wrote in the early 2nd century AD:^[6]

A contraceptive differs from an abortive, for the first does not let conception take place, while the latter destroys what has been conceived ... But a controversy has arisen. For one party banishes abortives ... because it is the specific task of medicine to guard and preserve what has been engendered by nature. The other party prescribes abortives, but with discrimination ...

Much of what is known about the methods and practice of abortion in Greek and Roman history comes from early classical texts. Abortion, as a gynecological procedure, was primarily the province of women who were either midwives or well-informed laypeople. In his Theaetetus, Plato mentions a midwife's ability to induce abortion in the early stages of pregnancy.^[7][8][9] A fragment attributed to the poet Lysias "suggests that abortion was a crime in Athens against the husband, if his wife was pregnant when he died, since his unborn child could have claimed the estate."^[10]

Tertullian, a 2nd- and 3rd-century Christian theologian, described surgical implements which were used in a procedure similar to modern dilation and evacuation.^[11]

Development of Christian perspectives[edit]

An early Christian understanding of preventing abortion and infanticide was outlined in the 1st century Didache, which was published in Syria or Palestine and became widely available in Europe with the growth of the early Church.^[12]

Restrictions on abortion have generally corresponded with laws and societies influenced by Christianity or where a substantial number of health professionals refuse to perform abortion due to a personal conscientious objection which is often, but not always, related to religious faith.^[13]

Pope John Paul II outlined Catholic teaching on abortion and support for a definition of life beginning at conception in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae^[14] and through the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church:^[15]

Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.

Eastern Orthodox Christianity has similarly strongly condemned abortion. The Russian Orthodox Church's Social Concept states:^[16]

Since the ancient time the Church has viewed deliberate abortion as a grave sin. The canons equate abortion with murder. This assessment is based on the conviction that the conception of a human being is a gift of God.

Following the Reformation, Protestants also affirmed life before birth and opposed abortion, although individual Protestant churches have adopted differing positions on the grounds on which abortion should or should not be permitted. John Calvin, for example, wrote:^[17]

The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being, and it is almost a monstrous crime to rob it of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy.

The bishops of the Anglican Communion expressed opposition to abortion at the 1930 Lambeth Conference.^[18] The 1958 Lambeth Conference's Family in Contemporary Society report affirmed the following position on abortion^[19] and was commended by the 1968 Conference:^[20]

In the strongest terms Christians reject the practice of induced abortion or infanticide, which involves the killing of a life already conceived (as well as a violation of the personality of the mother), save at the dictate of strict and undeniable medical necessity ... the sacredness of life is, in Christian eyes, an absolute which should not be violated.

Development of other faith and secular perspectives[edit]

Islamic and Jewish perspectives on abortion differ according to the scholarship followed. All Islamic schools of thought agree that abortion is recommended when the mother's life is in danger as the mother's life is paramount. The author of Sahih al-Bukhari (Book of Hadith) writes that the unborn child is believed to become a living soul after 120 days of gestation.^[21]

Abortion has been questioned from a secular perspective, drawing on modern understandings of science and human rights,^[22] although the potential to legalise and increase the availability of abortion was supported by secular and libertarian feminists and socialists from the mid-19th century onwards. The 1871 Paris Commune, for example, declared:^[23]

The submission of the children and the mother to the authority of the father, who prepares the submission of each one to the authority of the chief, is pronounced dead. The couple consents freely to seek common pleasure. The Commune proclaims freedom of birth: the right to sexual information from childhood, the right to abortion, the right to contraception. As the products cease to be the property of their parents. They live together in their home and run their own lives.

Eastern Europe[edit]

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the first country in Europe to legalise abortion in 1920^[24] and was followed by other Soviet Union republics. However, between 1936 and 1955, abortion in the Soviet Union was highly restricted due to medical concerns and its impact on population growth.^[25]

Under eugenics laws in Nazi Germany, abortion was severely punished for women considered to be Aryan (racially superior). However, abortion was permitted on wider and more explicit grounds if the unborn child was believed to be deformed or disabled or if a termination otherwise was deemed desirable on eugenic or racial grounds, including forced abortion on Polish and Jewish women.^[26][27]

Abortion law became more liberalised in Eastern Europe in the 1950s after the installation of communist regimes across the Eastern Bloc. The reintroduction of abortion in Soviet law in 1955^[28] was accompanied by similar changes in:

• Hungary – 1953^[29]
• Poland and Bulgaria – 1956^[30]
• Czechoslovakia and Romania – 1957^[31]

After the fall of communism, most of Eastern Europe continued with liberal abortion laws except for Poland, where abortion is allowed only in cases of risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman or when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. Abortion in cases of an abnormality in an unborn child was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Poland in 2020.^[32]

While abortion is more widely available in Hungary and Slovakia, the Constitution of Slovakia describes human life as "worthy of protection already before birth"^[33] and the Constitution of Hungary states that "embryonic and foetal life shall be subject to protection from the moment of conception."^[34]

Scandinavia[edit]

Sweden was the first liberal democracy in Europe to legalise abortion, in 1938; this move was followed by the introduction of limited abortion laws in Denmark in 1939,^[35] Finland in 1950,^[36] and Norway in 1964. More liberal abortion laws were introduced in Norway in 1964, Finland in 1970, and Denmark and Iceland in 1973.

Greenland has followed Denmark's liberal policy on abortion, and has at times experienced more abortions than live births taking place,^[37] whereas the Faroe Islands have maintained a more conservative approach; the issue was transferred to the Faroese Parliament (Løgting) in 2018.^[38]

The Parliament of Norway (Storting) legislated in 2015 that an unborn child is presumed to be viable at 21 weeks and 6 days unless there are specific reasons otherwise.^[39] The law was clarified as survival after abortion was recorded in some cases at 22 or 23 weeks of gestation.^[40]

Western Europe[edit]

The Abortion Act 1967, in Great Britain, was the first major liberalisation of abortion law in Western Europe. English law had previously allowed for abortion on limited grounds under the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 (also protecting the life of the pregnant woman) and from 1938 under the Bourne judgment in cases where a pregnancy would result in a pregnant woman becoming a "mental and physical wreck".^[41] Abortion continued to be limited to those grounds in Northern Ireland as the issue was devolved to the Northern Ireland Parliament.^[42]

Abortion on request during the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy was permitted in East Germany from 1972. The same policy was enacted in West Germany in 1974 but was ruled unconstitutional in 1975 by the Federal Constitutional Court as it infringed on the right to life of the unborn child. A revised law, with restrictions on abortion, was introduced in 1976.

The court ruled that a "life developing in the mother's womb is under the protection of the Constitution as an independent legal interest" and that the "protective duty of the State prohibits not only direct governmental encroachments upon the developing life but, in addition, commands the State to adopt a protective and encouraging role in regard to this life." This obligation was balanced with the rights of the mother – therefore permitting abortion in certain circumstances – although with the protection of fetal life, in principle, taking precedence.^[43]

The law on abortion in France was liberalised in 1975 and the changes in France and Germany were followed by similar changes in the law elsewhere in Europe:

• Austria – 1975^[44]
• Italy and Luxembourg – 1978^[45][46]
• Netherlands and Portugal – 1984^[47][48]
• Spain – 1985^[49]
• Greece – 1986^[50]
• Belgium – 1990^[51]
• Switzerland – 2002^[52]

King Baudouin of Belgium, a devout Catholic, stepped aside from his role as monarch due to his conscientious objection to abortion legislation in 1990; the law was approved by the Government of Belgium (acting as head of state) and Baudouin resumed his reign one day later.^[51] King Baudouin's letter on the issue, to his then Prime Minister, Wilfried Martens, is displayed in the BELvue Museum in Brussels.

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, approved by referendum in 1983, and the subsequent Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 limited abortion to cases where the pregnant woman's life was endangered. The law on abortion changed significantly to a very liberal policy in Ireland when, in 2018, the Eighth Amendment was repealed by a subsequent referendum. The resulting law allowed for abortion on request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, and on more limited grounds at later stages.

Abortion in Northern Ireland was liberalised in 2019 and 2020, from being permitted in cases of "risk of real and serious adverse effect on ... physical or mental health, which is either long term or permanent" to being available on request up to 12 weeks and on further grounds later in pregnancy.^[53]

In March 2024, France became the first country to excplicitly include the right to abortion in the Constitution influenced by the overturning of Roe v. Wade ruling in the USA in 2022.^[54][55]

Abortion laws by jurisdiction[edit]

In most of the 60 European nation-states and other territories, there is a legally defined term limit before which abortion is more available than afterwards.^[56] An elective abortion before the term limit may, in some cases, be carried out on request without a medical indication by the pregnant woman, or under certain conditions.

The grounds on which abortion is, or is not, available vary according to variations in national laws, policies and practices, which may include:

• Circumstances in which abortion is allowed after the first trimester;^{[57] [58]}
• Whether or not counselling or a waiting time (known as Bedenkzeit in Germany) before a termination is required;
• Availability and cost of medicines or equipment for the procedure;
• Support or objection, from medical professionals (for example, widespread conscientious objection in Italy);^[59][60]
• Whether parents are required to give consent for (or be informed of) abortions to end teenage pregnancies.^[61][59][62]

In countries where abortion is more restricted, women regularly travel to neighbouring countries with more liberal laws. For example, almost 8,000 Irish women travelled to England and Wales for abortions each year in the early 2000s; however, this number decreased, year on year, to around 4,000 in 2018, and to less than 1,000 per year following changes in the law in Ireland and Northern Ireland.^[63]

At present, a 10-week term limit is accepted in law in countries which were formerly part of Yugoslavia, whereas the 12-week limits has been adopted in most jurisdictions (including former republics of the Soviet Union and also most central European countries). Higher term limits are comparatively less common but are in place in France (14 weeks), Sweden (18 weeks), and the Netherlands (24 weeks).^[64]

Countries with no formal term limit in law include those with more restrictive laws and Great Britain, which has a strongly liberal law and policy; almost 89% abortions in England and Wales in 2021 were undertaken before 10 weeks of gestation, 1 per cent after 20 weeks, and 0.1% after 24 weeks.^[65]

This list is incomplete; you can help by adding missing items. (April 2024)

Country/territory	Elective term limit	Permitted further grounds
Albania	12 weeks	At any stage: Risk to life or health of pregnant woman Severe (incurable) malformation of unborn child Up to 22 weeks: Social reasons Pregnancy caused by sexual crime[66]
Andorra	Not applicable	Double effect principle – saving the life of the woman may have the unintended consequence of ending a pregnancy.[67]
Armenia	12 weeks	Up to 22 weeks: Pregnant woman deprived of maternal rights during pregnancy Divorce Pregnancy as a result of rape Medical grounds related to the health of pregnant womabn Congenital abnormality in unborn child[68]
Austria	13 weeks	Immediate danger to the life of pregnant woman Serious danger to the life or to the physical or mental health of pregnant woman Serious danger that child may be afflicted with a serious physical or mental defect Pregnant woman became pregnant when under 14 years of age[69]
Azerbaijan	12 weeks	At any stage:: Child with disabilities in the family Disability of husband Up to 22 weeks: Death of husband during pregnancy Court order depriving or restricting parental rights Refugee or internally displaced person status Lack of housing Recognition of woman or husband as unemployed Presence of woman or husband in place of imprisonment Extra-marital pregnancy Dissolution of marriage during pregnancy Pregnancy as a result of rape Multiple children in family (5 or more)[70] Azerbaijan has high levels of sex-selective abortion, resulting in the birth of more sons than daughters.[71]
Belarus	12 weeks	At any stage: Risk to life of pregnant woman Up to 22 weeks: Imprisonment of pregnant woman or husband Severe disability in husband Additional child with a disability since childhood Death of husband during pregnancy Divorce during pregnancy Court decision to remove parental rights Pregnancy as a result of rape Family has more than three children Unemployment of pregnant woman or husband Refugee status[72]
Belgium	12 weeks	At any stage: Serious threat to life of the woman Child will suffer from incurable disease if born (based on current scientific knowledge)[73]
Bosnia and Herzegovina	10 weeks	Between 10 and 20 weeks: Risk to life and health of pregnant woman Risk to physical or mental health of unborn child Pregnancy caused by sexual crime After 20 weeks: Saving the life or health of pregnant woman Counselling before and after an abortion is required in Republika Srpska. [74]
Bulgaria	12 weeks	Up to 20 weeks: Risk to health of pregnant woman and unborn child Up till end of pregnancy: At any stage: Severe malformation in unborn child Risk to life of the pregnant woman [75]
Croatia	10 weeks
Cyprus[76]	12 weeks
Akrotiri and Dhekelia[77]	Not applicable	Risk to life of pregnant woman Prevent grave permanent injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Substantial risk of serious physical or mental abnormalities in unborn child Risk of injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Risk of injury to physical or mental health of any existing children of family of pregnant woman[78]
Northern Cyprus[79]	10 weeks
Czechia	12 weeks	At any stage: Danger to the life of pregnant woman Serious malformation in unborn child Unborn child considered 'incapable of life' Up to 24 weeks: Genetic grounds for abortion[80]
Denmark	12 weeks	In second trimester: Risk to life of pregnant woman Risk of severe deterioration in physical or mental health of pregnant woman Risk of deterioration of the health of the pregnant woman due to existing or potential physical or mental illness (or as a consequence of other conditions) Danger that unborn child will be affected by serious physical or mental disorder Pregnant woman considered incapable of giving proper care to child due to physical or mental disability Pregnant woman considered incapable (for the time) of giving proper care to child due to her youth or immaturity Pregnancy, childbirth or care of child considered to constitute a serious burden to pregnant woman (which cannot otherwise be averted) Pregnancy resulting from a criminal act[81]
Faroe Islands	Not applicable	Risk to life of pregnant woman Risk of harm to health of pregnant woman High risk of birth defect in unborn child Pregnancy as a result of rape
Estonia	11 weeks
Finland	12 weeks
France	14 weeks	Serious danger to life of pregnant woman Serious danger to health of pregnant woman Significant probability that unborn child will be born with a serious incurable disease[82] Right to abortion guaranteed according to Constitution of France.
Germany	12 weeks	Risk to life of pregnant woman Risk of grave impairment to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Pregnancy as a result of criminal offence (up to 12 weeks) Exceptional distress (at discretion of court) All abortions must be performed by a physician.[83]
Georgia	12 weeks
Gibraltar
Greece	12 weeks	Risk to life of pregnant woman Risk of serious and continuous damage to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Pregnancy as a result of rape or incest (up to 19 weeks) Abnormality in unborn child (up to 24 weeks)[84]
Hungary	12 weeks
Iceland	22 weeks
Ireland	12 weeks	Immediate serious risk to life or of serious harm to health of a pregnant woman (in an emergency) Serious risk to life or of serious harm to health of a pregnant woman Condition affecting unborn child that is likely to lead to his or her death (either before, or within 28 days of, birth)[85]
Italy	12 weeks
Kazakhstan[86]	12 weeks
Kosovo
Latvia	12 weeks
Liechtenstein	Not applicable	Immediate danger to life of pregnant woman Serious danger to life or health of pregnant woman Pregnancy as a result of a sexual offence (or pregnant woman was under-age at the time of conception)[87]
Lithuania	12 weeks
Luxembourg	12 weeks	At any stage: Serious threat to the health or life of pregnant woman Serious threat to the health or life of unborn child[88]
Malta	Not applicable	Saving the life and protecting the health of a pregnant woman suffering from a medical complication which may put her: Life at immediate risk Health in grave jeopardy which may lead to death.[89]
Moldova	12 weeks
Monaco
Montenegro	10 weeks
Netherlands	24 weeks
North Macedonia	12 weeks
Norway	12 weeks
Poland	Not applicable	Danger to life of pregnant woman Danger to health of pregnant woman Pregnancy as a result of a criminal act[90]
Portugal	10 weeks	Up to 12 weeks: Danger to life of pregnant woman Serious and lasting danger to body or physical or mental health of pregnant woman Up to 16 weeks: Pregnancy was a result of 'crime against sexual freedom and self-determination' Up to 24 weeks: Reasonable grounds to predict that child may be afflicted with incurable serious disease or congenital malformation At any stage: Unviable unborn child Only way to remove danger to life of pregnant woman Only way to remove serious and lasting danger to body or physical or mental health of pregnant woman
Romania	14 weeks
Russia	12 weeks
San Marino	12 weeks
Serbia	10 weeks
Slovakia	12 weeks
Slovenia	10 weeks
Spain	14 weeks
Sweden	18 weeks
Switzerland	12 weeks	Prevention of serious physical harm Prevention of serious psychological harm[91]
Turkey	10 weeks
Ukraine	12 weeks
England & Wales	Not applicable	At any stage: Risk to life of pregnant woman Prevent grave permanent injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Substantial risk of serious physical or mental abnormalities in unborn child Up to 24 weeks: Risk of injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Risk of injury to physical or mental health of any existing children of family of pregnant woman[92]
Scotland	Not applicable	Legislation equivalent to England and Wales but devolved to Scottish Parliament.[93]
Northern Ireland	12 weeks	At any stage: Risk to life of pregnant woman Prevent grave permanent injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Substantial risk that death of unborn child is likely before, during or shortly after birth Substantial risk that child would be seriously disabled Up to 24 weeks: Risk of injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman[94]
Jersey	12 weeks	At any stage: Risk to life of pregnant woman Prevention of grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health Up to 24 weeks: Substantial risk that child would be seriously disabled[95]
Guernsey
Isle of Man	14 weeks	From 14 weeks to 24 weeks: Substantial risk of serious injury to pregnant woman’s life Substantial risk of serious injury to pregnant woman’s health Substantial risk that unborn child is (or would be) affected by a significant physical or mental impairment which will have a seriously debilitating effect on the child Substantial risk that unborn child is (or would be) affected by a significant physical or mental impairment which will result in the death of the child in the womb Pregnancy resulted from rape, incest or other unlawful intercourse 'Serious social grounds' justifying the termination From 24 weeks: Prevention of grave long-term injury to health of pregnant woman Risk to life of pregnant woman Substantial risk that unborn child would die before or during labour (due to his or her physical or mental condition) Substantial risk that unborn child would die shortly after birth because of severe foetal developmental impairment Substantial risk that unborn child would suffer a serious impairment likely to limit the length and quality of his or her life[96]
Vatican City	Not applicable	Double effect principle – saving the life of the woman may have the unintended consequence of ending a pregnancy.[97]

See also[edit]

References[edit]