A GLOBAL LOOK AT ABORTION AND TOUGHEST LAWS

Approximately 73 million abortions occur worldwide annually, with 61 per cent of all unintended pregnancies and 29 per cent of all pregnancies ending in abortion, according to the WHO.

The WHO said about 45 per cent of all abortions are unsafe, of which 97 per cent occur in developing countries. There are 16 countries where abortion is prohibited altogether, a list that includes Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines, Laos, Senegal, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. About three dozen other countries allow it only to save the life of the mother,

a list that includes Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan and Myanmar. Around 40 per cent of women of reproductive age live in places where abortion access is illegal or limited.

Poland in January 2021 put into effect a constitutional court decision prohibiting abortions performed due to feotal defects.

El Salvador has some of the world’s strictest abortion laws, with the procedure banned without exception since 1998. More than 180 women who experienced obstetric emergencies were prosecuted for abortion or aggravated homicide in the past 20 years.

Malta is the only EU member state that completely prohibits the procedure. Women face up to three years in jail.

Senegal prohibits abortion but its code of medical ethics allows it if three doctors agree it is needed to save a woman’s life. A 2014 study showed the rules force women to seek clandestine abortions and, as a last resort, kill their own infants. Anti-abortion laws in the Philippines derive from its time as a colony of Spain. Abortion has been prohibited for more than a century. About 1,000 Filipino women die each year from complications.

Spain is among more than 50 countries that have liberalised abortion laws over the past quarter century.