Abortion

Making abortion legal

Women, girls, and anybody else capable of getting pregnant cannot manage their futures without laws and regulations that provide access to contraception and abortion. All across the world, we advocate for easily accessible, legal abortion. LegaMart works to inform policymakers and educate attorneys to safeguard the rights of those seeking abortion care. To provide the most excellent service to our clients, we work with organisations that support women’s sexual and reproductive rights.

Abortion laws and legal barriers to access

Abortion regulations range from absolute bans to permitting abortions worldwide. 58% of women of reproductive age as of 2017 reside in nations where abortions are generally permitted. Although that is the majority, 42% of women reside in the 125 nations with the strictest restrictions on abortion. There is a long way to go until women can access safe, legal abortion care. However, significant advancements are being made daily, and we are aware of a rise in public support for reproductive health. For instance, 90% of individuals in the UK favour access to abortion services and are pro-choice. With a generation of young people motivated to stand more potent than ever to defend reproductive choice, LegaMart collaborates with advocates to eliminate needless legal and policy barriers to abortion worldwide.

LegaMart will answer your inquiry within two working days if you are aware of your pregnancy and have legal concerns about your rights to a self-managed abortion or your right to obtain an abortion in a clinic.  Tell us in your message if you have been detained or questioned by the police. We will respond to you as soon as we can. Please be aware that our helpline receives many calls, and we give precedence to those with urgent legal needs. LegaMart offers private legal counsel, data, and, if required, access to expert lawyers.

Ending criminal abortion laws

Women suffer—along with their families and communities—when abortion is illegal. While criminal laws against abortion are meant to do so, they do not. Instead, these restrictions lead to a rise in the number of women and girls who choose risky abortion techniques, increasing their risk of harm or death. In jurisdictions where abortion is prohibited, women who seek or administer abortions may face legal action and imprisonment. LegaMart collaborates with attorneys worldwide to increase public awareness of the terrible effects of criminal abortion legislation and the significance of safe, legal abortion to safeguard women’s health and human rights.

To find out more about the legal aspects of abortion, contact us.

Medical abortion

Drugs are used during medical abortions instead of surgical methods to stop a pregnancy. Early medical abortion The most popular type of medical abortion occurs up to 10 weeks after the last menstrual period (LMP) and is accomplished with “The Abortion Pill” (mifepristone + misoprostol). The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) gave it the go-ahead for use in females up to 10 weeks following LMP. Even after ten weeks of LMP, it is still used despite an increasing failure rate. The procedure involves taking a series of tablets that interfere with the embryo’s ability to connect to the uterus and trigger uterine spasms that force the embryo out.

Surgical abortion

A woman who has decided to have a surgical abortion is free to change their mind UNTIL the surgical process starts.

You still have the option to alter your mind even after paying your deposit or having laminaria inserted into your cervix. What if you’re lying on the examination table, and the abortionist has numbed your cervix but hasn’t inserted any instruments? You can still refuse the procedure, get off the table, and go somewhere. You still have a choice because it is your body. However, it’s too late once the tools are in your uterus and the suction is activated.

Medication/drug abortion

You had no doubts; this is what you desired. You took the first round of medications to end your pregnancy while in the clinic. The bag holding the second batch of tablets, which will be taken in 24 hours, is given to you as you leave the clinic. As you enter your car, you instantly feel dread and sorrow, and your mind screams, “What have I done?! ” The good news is that you still have time to prevent the abortion of your child. The Abortion Pill Reversal is a brand-new strategy that employs natural progesterone to stop the abortion and save the pregnancy.

If you are under 18

Some jurisdictional laws stipulate that before a minor undergoes an abortion, a parent or guardian must be informed (although not given consent or approval). However, in most jurisdictions, the law does not require notification if the abortion provider determines that the minor is old enough to give her consent or if it’s not in her best interests to tell her parents/guardian (concerns about physical or emotional abuse), the minor doesn’t live with her parents, and/or a reasonable attempt has been made to reach the parents, or if the abortion provider believes that the minor is too young to give informed consent, among other reasons.

Late abortion restrictions

Abortion is prohibited at fetal viability, which is often between 24 and 26 weeks. However, few exceptions are permitted if the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life or health or if fetal abnormalities are found.

Legal aspects of abortion in the USA

Let’s look at the evolution of constitutional law regarding the right to abortion, rights for adults and children, conscience provisions, and concerns about abortion and malpractice, focusing on the legal implications of abortion. In the Roe v. Wade decision, the US Supreme Court ruled in 1973 that a woman’s right to choose whether or not to have an abortion was a part of the right to privacy rooted in the idea of personal liberty provided by the 9th and 14th amendments to the US Constitution. The cases ruled that laws that forbade abortion and laws that placed so many restrictions on it that it was impossible to obtain one were unconstitutional. The Court acknowledged the state’s interest in maintaining the foetus’ life and safeguarding maternal health. Still, it stated that a woman’s right to privacy was a fundamental right that should never be violated absent strong evidence.

The Court considered the abortion option in light of the various stages of pregnancy. A woman’s first-trimester abortion rights are almost unrestricted; neither the state nor the federal government may intervene with the woman’s and her doctor’s decision. The state may regulate the abortion process as long as the laws are restricted to preserve and protect maternal health because abortions during the second trimester are more hazardous to the mother’s health. As a result, the state can set licencing requirements for the locations where the process will be carried out and rules for reporting and record keeping. Third-trimester viability allows the state’s compelling interest in foetal life protection to precede the mother’s right to privacy. The state may, but is not compelled to, forbid abortion during this trimester unless it is necessary to protect the mother’s life or health. There were various attempts between 1973 and 1983 to undermine the Court’s decision. The most common attempts were to pass state laws that made it unreasonable to get an abortion. A fundamental legal need for medical practice is that a procedure cannot be performed without the patient’s consent. To get informed consent, the patient must be informed of the risks, advantages, and available treatment options. According to the Supreme Court, not all consent demands for children are unconstitutional. State laws mandating parental notification are lawful, even though parents cannot exercise a complete veto over their child’s decision to have an abortion. Because the right to 

privacy belongs exclusively to the pregnant woman, the Court has ruled that spousal permission is unconstitutional. The Court has affirmed that a woman’s right to an abortion does not obligate the state or the federal government to cover the cost of the procedure for poor women. The Supreme Court rendered decisions on a trio of issues addressing the control of abortion by state and local governments in the summer of 1983. Despite placing some restrictions on abortion, the Supreme Court maintained the Roe decision.

Abortion in Africa

The topic of abortion law in Africa is significant and merits consideration. As the various African nations approach the problems of abortion, there are notable differences that can be seen. Nigeria, Ghana, and South Africa are the three nations that provide an excellent foundation for this analysis. This is partially due to the stark differences in the abortion regulations that are in place in these nations, although they are all in Africa. Many individuals are tempted to think that because abortion-related mortality rates are reduced by more liberal abortion legislation, this is beneficial for women’s reproductive health. To fully understand such a stance, it is crucial to consider the effects of having illiberal abortion regulations in a nation.

• Nigeria

 Nigerian law makes abortion illegal and is punishable by a lengthy prison term of up to 14 years unless the pregnant woman’s life is in danger. There are numerous moral justifications for which one may make a strong case for changing Nigeria’s restrictive abortion laws. There are several valid reasons a woman can decide to have an abortion, such as failure of contraception, psychological or financial inability to care for a child, a pervasive fear of rejection, being too young, etc. The list of causes is lengthy, but one of the most tragic is undoubtedly a pregnancy brought on by rape. Due to the nation’s stringent abortion laws, many women in Nigeria resort to risky undercover abortion operations, which frequently lead to complications associated with abortion. It is terrible that Nigerian abortion laws ignore such situations, unintentionally encouraging illegal abortions and the sometimes lethal repercussions that go along with them. Illegal abortions allegedly cause approximately 11% of maternal deaths in Nigeria, and 50% involve teenagers and young adults.

The need for legal reform to allow for and promote safe, legal abortions to combat the unsafe abortion issue in Nigeria is surprisingly underappreciated, even though Nigeria has one of the highest maternal mortality rates worldwide.

• Ghana

Google search analysis reveals a higher interest in abortion pills from nations with historically stricter abortion restrictions, such as Ghana and Nigeria. Abortion regulations in Ghana are only sporadically lenient. Abortions are permitted in Ghana provided they are carried out by trained medical professionals in a facility that has been given the go-ahead and in cases of rape, incest, foetal illness or deformity, “defilement of a female idiot,” or to safeguard one’s physical or mental well-being. Abortion is still widely stigmatised in Ghana, despite the country’s laws being much more lenient than those in Nigeria. As a result, there might still be a higher prevalence of illegal abortions. In Ghana, many women look for illicit abortions, the safety of which varies considerably. Ghana’s high maternal mortality, estimated at 310 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births in 2017, is primarily caused by complications from unsafe abortions. The government should ensure that women are more aware that, under certain circumstances, abortion is legal in Ghana and should disseminate information on how and where to access safe and legal abortion services.

• South Africa

Regarding protecting reproductive rights, South Africa is frequently regarded as Africa’s most liberal nation. The Choice in Termination of Pregnancy Act, which “gives women of any age or marital status access to abortion services upon request during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and in some situations, extends access to the first 20 weeks of pregnancy,” legalised abortion in South Africa in 1996. The legal system in South Africa is known for its progressive abortion regulations, which are based on protecting women’s autonomy and freedom of choice provided by the country’s constitution. The Choice Act expands the circumstances under which an abortion may be performed while dividing the pregnancy into three phases for abortion-related purposes. Right-on-demand abortion is allowed until the end of the twelfth week of pregnancy. South Africa’s number of women who had illegal abortions decreased after 1996, especially among younger women. Between 1994 and 2001, the mortality rate of abortion decreased by more than 90%. There is still a market for backstreet abortions despite South Africa’s liberal abortion laws. In contrast to Ghana’s moderately permissive abortion regulations and Nigeria’s highly harsh abortion laws, the country’s liberal abortion laws may have contributed to the nation’s reduced abortion-related death rates.

Abortion in Europe

Abortion in Europe

• Category I.Completely forbidden

The laws of the nations in this group forbid abortion in any situation, even when the woman’s life or health is in danger. 24 countries fit this description internationally. 91 million (6%) women of reproductive age reside in nations that outlaw abortion altogether.

• Category II.To Save the Life of a Woman

When a woman’s life is in danger, abortion is legal in the nations under this category. 41 nations fit these criteria. There are 358 million (22%) women of reproductive age who reside in nations that permit abortions to save a woman’s life.

• Category III. To maintain health

These nations’ legal systems allow abortion for medical or therapeutic purposes. 48 nations are included in this group. A total of 186 million (12%) women of reproductive age reside in nations that permit abortions for medical reasons.

• Category IV. Large-scale social or economic factors

These laws are typically generously interpreted to allow abortion in various situations. When evaluating the possible effects of pregnancy and childbearing, these nations frequently consider a woman’s actual or reasonably anticipated environment and her social or economic conditions. This group includes thirteen nations. 386 million (24%) of women of childbearing age reside in nations that permit abortion on a wide range of social or financial grounds.

• Category V. On-demand (Gestational Limits Vary)

There are 576 million (36%) women of reproductive age who reside in nations that permit abortions on demand. 75 nations worldwide fit this description. For nations in this group, the standard gestational length is 12 weeks. Gestational limits are determined starting on the first day of the most recent menstrual cycle, which is taken to be two weeks before conception. Where regulations state that gestational age restrictions must be determined from conception, these restrictions have been increased by two weeks.