Taking Stock of Abortion Laws Across Europe

After almost two years of discussions between member states' representatives, the Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men of the Council of Europe have prepared a report entitled "Access to safe and legal abortion in Europe."

The report confirms what is already known, that the situation in Europe regarding abortion is very diverse. Abortion is legal in the vast majority of the Council of Europe member states. In most of the Council of Europe member states (except Andorra and Malta), the law permits abortion in order to save women's life. Abortion on request is - in theory - available in all Council of Europe member states, but not in Andorra, Ireland, Malta, Monaco and Poland.  

According to information provided by the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), abortion rates are generally on the decline in Europe, particularly in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe (based on data from World Health Organization Regional Office for Europe - in the European region the number of abortions per 1000 live births was 412.33 in 2005 and 391.56 in 2006; and in the Commonwealth of Independent States - the number of abortions per 1000 live births equaled 603.87 in 2005 and 557.3 in 2006). In the European Union, the figures remain rather stable (the number of abortions per 1000 live births was 252.54 in 2005 and 246.4 in 2006).

Legislation varies considerably from country to country in Europe, ranging  from complete liberalization to abortion being available only in extreme circumstances, such as rape, severe malformation of the fetus or if the woman's life is at risk. Abortion is generally available without restriction as to reason up to the 12th week and up to 18 weeks in Sweden.  It is legal up to 22 weeks in most of the Caucasian countries for social or medical reasons; up to 24 weeks in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom in the event of social, medical or economic constraints.  It is available only under certain conditions in Cyprus, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal (the situation is, however, changing in Portugal, where a referendum was held in February 2007, and resulted in a liberalized abortion legislation) and Spain.  Abortion is available only if the mother's life is in danger in Ireland and Northern Ireland and not at all in Malta.

Where access to abortion is so heavily restricted, it frequently results in women having to risk unsafe, illegal abortions, or facing financial difficulties resulting from the only available alternative: travelling to a country where abortion is available upon request. In other countries, although the abortion law may not be heavily restrictive, in practice it is often subject to limited interpretation. In Slovakia, many healthcare professionals uphold "conscientious objection'' and therefore refuse to perform abortions. This should never be a reason for refusing to refer a client for further help elsewhere.

The Committee on Equal Opportunities for Women and Men declares in its report that the aim should be to avoid abortions as much as possible. And the best way to avoid abortions is to avoid unwanted pregnancies by offering accessible and affordable contraception, and sex education for young adults (including in schools). The availability of affordable contraception has lowered abortion rates over the years, in particular in Central and Eastern Europe (in some countries, e.g. the then Soviet Union, abortion was used instead of contraception for decades).

Making methods of contraception available, however, is not enough to prevent abortions. It is also important to enable women to choose a suitable contraception of their own choice.

In order to avoid unwanted pregnancies, banning abortions is not be a solution. Women facing unintended pregnancy can only sometimes be persuaded to have a child, but most of them will try to have an abortion even if abortion is illegal in their country. Some will travel to other countries. The European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development indicates that, according to the statistics of the Irish Family Planning Association, in the year 2006, 5042 Irish women went to Britain for an abortion. In Poland, where underground private abortion services are robust, as is "abortion tourism," women travel to neighboring countries, including Austria, Belarus, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, the Russian Federation, Slovakia and Ukraine, to have an abortion. But those who cannot afford to travel will resort to unsafe "backstreet" abortions or will even try to terminate their pregnancies themselves, at great risk to their health and even life (according to European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development, the estimated number of unsafe abortions in Europe varies from 500,000 to 800,000 annually).

Restrictive legislation may also lead to the development of an "abortion underground." Some NGOs in Poland, where abortion is allowed only in the event of rape, incest or danger to the life or health of the mother, have complained about both women's limited access to abortion - the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Tysiąc v. Poland  confirmed that an ultimate decision on whether or not to carry a pregnancy to term has to be a matter for the woman, and that women's right to control their own bodies must be recognized (see Even Legal Abortion Is Hard to Access in Poland). These associations estimate that some 180,000 clandestine abortions are carried out in Poland every year.

It is often argued that giving women the legal right to abortion will only increase the number of abortions. But in fact, legal restrictions do not contribute at all to reduction of abortion rates and, rather the opposite, very often lead to increasing numbers of unsafe abortions. For example, the Netherlands and Belgium are among those countries in Europe with the lowest abortion rates in Europe - no wonder, as these countries have abortion legislation and services best developed. But unfortunately this is not the case for the whole of the European Union, and also many countries outside the EU.

Therefore, the report states that member states of the Council of Europe should be invited to: first of all decriminalize abortion, if they have not already done so; guarantee women's effective exercise of their right to abortion; allow women freedom of choice and offer the conditions of a free choice; lift restrictions which hinder, de jure or de facto, access to safe abortion, and in particular take the necessary steps to create the appropriate conditions for health, medical and psychological care and offer suitable financial cover; ensure that women have access to contraception at a reasonable cost, of a suitable nature for them, and chosen by them; introduce compulsory sex education for young people (in schools), so as to avoid as many unwanted pregnancies (and therefore abortions) as possible.