Abortion: legislation and statistics in Europe

Objective: The Parliamentary Assembly invited the member states of the Council of Europe to 'guarantee women's effective exercise of their right of access to a safe and legal abortion'. While abortion legislation and statistics give an impression of the legislative, cultural, and reli...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The European journal of contraception & reproductive health care 2022-07, Vol.27 (4), p.345-352
Main Authors: Fiala, Christian, Agostini, Aubert, Bombas, Teresa, Lertxundi, Roberto, Lubusky, Marek, Parachini, Mirella, Gemzell-Danielsson, Kristina
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Abortion
Europe
Legislation
Medicin och hälsovetenskap
statistics
Trends
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Summary:Objective: The Parliamentary Assembly invited the member states of the Council of Europe to 'guarantee women's effective exercise of their right of access to a safe and legal abortion'. While abortion legislation and statistics give an impression of the legislative, cultural, and religious views of the societies and the socio-economic health of the female population, only one study conducted in 2011 looked into the current legislation and trends in terminations of pregnancy in the European Union. Materials and Methods: From January 2017 to December 2018, a group of experts, the authors of the present article, liaised with colleagues practising in 32 European countries to collect data on abortion legislation and statistics using three different questionnaires. Results: The article presents the results of this initiative and compares the status quo and recent trends in abortion legislation and statistics across Europe. Conclusions: The European legislations are still very heterogenous and abortion rates vary widely between countries, confirming that laws do not correlate with abortion rates. This compilation of data, also available on a website ( www.abort-report.eu ), may help to change laws to better meet the needs of women who decided to have an abortion as a solution to the underlying problem of an unwanted pregnancy.
ISSN:1362-5187
1473-0782
1473-0782
DOI:10.1080/13625187.2022.2057469