Abortion Around the World

LEGALLY or illegally, abortion is practiced in nearly every country in the world. In fact, more than half the world's population lives in countries that permit abortion for social as well as medical reasons.

Perhaps the most permissive toward abortion is the Soviet Union, which passed an open abortion law (virtually without restrictions) in 1920, years before any other country. To arrest a declining birth rate, the law was repealed in 1936--and then reinstated in 1955. Similarly liberal laws were passed during the 1950s in many Communist countries of Eastern Europe (Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland, Rumania and Bulgaria). Japan, too, has a permissive law, as do China and India. In the latter two countries, however, not everyone who wants an abortion can get one, simply because medical facilities are too few and often too far away for poor people to reach.

Laws are more restrictive, but increasingly flexible, in Scandinavia and Great Britain. In 1938, Sweden became the first of the Scandinavian countries to moderate its statutes, and the law has become increasingly permissive over the years. In addition to allowing abortion for medical, eugenic and ethical (in cases of rape or incest) reasons, Sweden now permits it to protect "mental health," a term that can be broadly interpreted to justify abortion for almost any reason. However, the country requires a detailed investigation before permission is granted, and until 1965 permission was in fact denied in 20% to 40% of all cases. Now, however, the rate of refusal is much lower.

Most of the nations of Latin America have severely restrictive abortion laws on the books; in fact, abortion is totally illegal, even on medical grounds, in Bolivia, Colombia, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, Guatemala and Panama. It is also banned outright, or only rarely permitted, in the predominantly Catholic countries of Europe, in most of the new African states, and in some Asian countries, among them Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and Taiwan.

Even in some countries where abortion is illegal--especially in South Korea and most of the Middle East--the operation is performed openly in clinics and hospitals. By contrast, abortions are performed clandestinely, but frequently, in many Latin American nations. Studies show that from 20% to 50% of all Latin American pregnancies are illegally ended.

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