Access to abortion: rights and disparities across EU and in the US
Almost half (48 %) of pregnancies worldwide are unplanned, according to research (Bearak et al., 2020). World Health Organisation stresses that abortion services and care are essential components of public health, to ensure high-quality sexual and reproductive health for women and girls.
The physical and mental health of women and girls who have an abortion requires more than just that the procedure is medically safe. Abortion can be considered safe only when it is performed without the risk of criminal or legal sanction, stigmatisation, stress or isolation (Starrs et al., 2018).
The UN sexual and reproductive health agency (UNFPA) and the World Health Organization (WHO) note that a staggering 45 % of all abortions around the world, are unsafe, making the procedure a leading cause of maternal death. The agencies said it was inevitable that more women will die, as restrictions by national or regional governments increase.
“Whether abortion is legal or not, it happens all too often. Data show that restricting access to abortion does not prevent people from seeking abortion, it simply makes it more deadly”, UNFPA highlighted. Too many girls and women continue to die and face both the short and long-term negative consequences of unsafe abortion.
Sexual and Reproductive Health is a human right
The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) framed Sexual and Reproductive Health as a basic human right. Since then, the protection and promotion of sexual and reproductive health rights without any discrimination, while tackling gender inequalities on this issue, have been on UN agendas.
Gender inequalities significantly impact the sexual rights’ outcomes. They are shaped and structured in accordance with gender norms and unequal power relations in society, and may strip women and men of their ability to control their sexual and reproductive life.
However, biological sex determines the extent to which an individual can access the sexual health care. Women, in particular, are subjected to sexual and reproductive control and limited in their bodily autonomy (UNFPA, 2021). Inequalities based on age, (dis)ability, race, ethnicity, migration status and sexual orientation, as well as gender, also influence the access to medical care
Studies from Europe and worldwide show that family planning and birth control methods largely remain women’s responsibility, which means that in cases where they do not have a saying over contraception, women end up trapped and deprived of the right to decide over their bodies and their lives.
Abortion disparities across the European Union
Worldwide, abortion is prohibited altogether in 24 countries. When people face barriers to obtaining safe abortions, they often resort to unsafe procedures, according to the World Health Organisation (WHO), and unsafe abortions are more common in countries with restrictive laws.
Across the European Union, although laws and policies on accessing abortion services, with reproductive health consequences for those using them, vary greatly, all Member States allow it under certain conditions – except one:
- Malta is the only country that denies entirely women’s access to abortion, even if their lives are at risk and women who have an abortion can face up to three years in jail.
- Poland also has very restrictive laws regarding abortions and since 2021 has made it illegal to terminate pregnancies with fetal defects, but it is anyway still possible to get an abortion on grounds of saving a woman’s life, preserving her health, or in cases of rape.
- Eleven Member States – Belgium, Germany, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal and Slovakia – have a mandatory waiting period.
Belgium, Germany, Italy, Lithuania, Hungary, the Netherlands and Slovakia mandate pre-abortion counselling.
The only countries not requiring third-party consent, for example parental consent, for abortion in underaged children, are Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Finland (IPPF, 2019).
Overall, eastern European Member States have the most unwanted pregnancies and 66% of unintended pregnancies end in abortion (Bearak et al., 2020).
Access to abortion under threat in the US
Abortion in the United States used to be legal in all states (with every state having at least one abortion clinic), subject to balancing tests tying state regulation of abortion to the three trimesters of pregnancy, via the landmark 1973 case of Roe v. Wade, the first abortion case to be taken to the Supreme Court that in 1973 legalized abortion in the US.
On June 24th 2022, the Supreme Court’s conservative majority overturned Roe v. Wade, the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed the right to an abortion, in a 6-3 decision. The court also overturned Planned Parenthood v. Casey, a 1992 case that in some ways weakened Roe but maintained its foundational abortion rights protection.
With Roe overturned, states now have the right to ban or otherwise heavily restrict abortion if it is not protected by their state constitutions. In some states, the impact will be felt immediately. In others, legal questions about the future of abortion access could drag out for years. 13 states have laws on the books that would ban virtually all abortions. Still more states have laws banning abortion as early as six weeks into pregnancy, and governments in a handful of states are expected to soon pass legislation restricting access.
The final decision is very similar to the draft opinion, which Politico had published on May 3rd as a leaked draft, causing international reactions with even the EU parliament urging the U.S. to keep abortion legal.
• It retains its citations of the much-criticized 17th-century English legal scholar Matthew Hale, who is responsible for the so-called “marital rape” exemption.
• It also retains inflammatory language such as the word “abortionist,” a term that historically referred to people who helped perform illegal abortions in non-medical settings, and is now used by abortion-rights opponents to deride the physicians who help terminate pregnancies.
In its main opinion, authored by Justice Samuel Alito, the court’s majority went out of its way to argue that the right to an abortion is fundamentally different from other rights.
States that protect the right to abortion
In 10 states, the state’s supreme court has found that its constitution guarantees the right to an abortion (Alaska, Arizona, California, Florida, Kansas, Massachusetts,
Minnesota, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico).
Beyond constitutional rights, a dozen states have passed laws codifying the right to an abortion up until the fetus can live independently outside the womb (California,
Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Nevada, New York, Rhode Island, Washington) and four other states plus the District of Columbia have passed laws that protect abortion rights throughout pregnancy (Colorado, New Jersey, Oregon, Vermont).
[Updated on June 25th, 2022]
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