Английская Википедия:Abortion in Europe

Содержание

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Текст

Файл:Pro Life-Pro Choice Gdansk Poland 2021.jpg

A visual example of differing European views on abortion – a poster adopted by opponents of abortion in Poland with inscriptions in favour of abortion rights.

Файл:Abortion on request legality (Eurasia 29-06-2022).png

Map showing the legality of abortion on request in Europe, 2022. Шаблон:Legend Шаблон:Legend Legal to term limit of: Шаблон:Legend Шаблон:Legend Шаблон:Legend Шаблон:Legend Шаблон:Legend Шаблон:Legend Шаблон:Legend Шаблон:Legend Шаблон:Color box striped 12–28 weeks
Шаблон:Color box striped 12 weeks (or later if authorised)
Шаблон:Color box striped 10 weeks (or later if authorised)
Шаблон:Color box striped 12 weeks (elective procedure)
Шаблон:Color box striped Must be approved by committee

Abortion in Europe varies considerably between countries and territories due to differing national laws and policies on its legality, availability of the procedure, and alternative forms of support for pregnant women and their families.

In most European countries, as illustrated in the map and in the country-by-country table below, abortion is generally permitted within a term limit below fetal viability (e.g. 12 weeks in Germany and Italy, or 14 weeks in France and Spain). The longest term limits – in terms of gestation – are in the United Kingdom and in the Netherlands, both at 24 weeks of gestation.

Grounds for abortion are highly restricted in Poland and in the smaller jurisdictions of Monaco, Liechtenstein and the Faroe Islands. Abortion is prohibited (as an intentional action to cause a miscarriage) in Andorra, and only permitted in limited cases to protect the life of the pregnant woman in Malta. However, abortions are de facto allowed in both countries to save the life of the pregnant woman through observance of the principle of double effect.

History

Debates around abortion, pregnancy and the beginning of life were common in Greek and Roman philosophy and medicine, and would have also been known in cultures which have not left a written record. The medical writer Soranus of Ephesus wrote in the early 2nd century AD:

An early Christian understanding of preventing abortion and infanticide was outlined in the 1st century Didache.

Restrictions on abortion have generally corresponded with laws and societies influenced by Christianity or where a substantial number of health professionals refuse to perform abortion due to a personal conscientious objection which is often, but not always, related to religious faith.

Pope John Paul II outlined Catholic teaching on abortion and support for a definition of life beginning at conception in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae and through the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church:

Eastern Orthodox Christianity has similarly strongly condemned abortion. The Russian Orthodox Church's Social Concept states:

Following the Reformation, Protestants also affirmed life before birth and opposed abortion, although individual Protestant churches have adopted differing positions on the grounds on which abortion should or should not be permitted. John Calvin, for example, wrote:

The bishops of the Anglican Communion expressed opposition to abortion at the 1930 Lambeth Conference. The 1958 Lambeth Conference's Family in Contemporary Society report affirmed the following position on abortion and was commended by the 1968 Conference:

Abortion is also questioned and opposed from a secular perspective, drawing on modern understandings of science and human rights.

Islamic and Jewish perspectives on abortion differ according to the scholarship followed.

Abortions have taken place either within or outside the law throughout European history, alongside initiatives by opponents of abortion to provide alternatives where a pregnancy is difficult or unwanted. These have included kinship care by families and friendship circles in every culture, the adoption and fostering of alumni children in Roman society, and the oblation of children who were given into the care of monastic institutions if a family was unable to provide adequate care. In the modern era, formal support services have included adoption, fostering and foundling hospitals.

Eastern Europe

Файл:RussianAbortionPoster.jpg

Soviet poster, from 1925, warning against abortions induced without medical care.

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the first country in Europe to legalise abortion in 1920 and was followed by other Soviet Union republics. However, between 1936 and 1955, abortion in the Soviet Union was highly restricted due to medical concerns and its impact on population growth.

Under eugenics laws in Nazi Germany, abortion was severely punished for women considered to be Aryan (racially superior). However, abortion was permitted on wider and more explicit grounds if the unborn child was believed to be deformed or disabled or if a termination otherwise was deemed desirable on eugenic or racial grounds, including forced abortion on Polish and Jewish women.

Abortion law became more liberalised in Eastern Europe in the 1950s after the installation of communist regimes across the Eastern Bloc. The reintroduction of abortion in Soviet law in 1955 was accompanied by similar changes in:

• Hungary – 1953
• Poland and Bulgaria – 1956
• Czechoslovakia and Romania – 1957

After the fall of communism, most of Eastern Europe continued with liberal abortion laws except for Poland, where abortion is allowed only in cases of risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman or when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. Abortion in cases of an abnormality in an unborn child was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Poland in 2020.

While abortion is more widely available in Hungary and Slovakia, the Constitution of Slovakia describes human life as "worthy of protection already before birth" and the Constitution of Hungary states that "embryonic and foetal life shall be subject to protection from the moment of conception."

Western Europe

Sweden was the first liberal democracy in Europe to legalise abortion, in 1938; this move was followed by the introduction of limited abortion laws in Denmark in 1939, Finland in 1950, and Norway in 1964. More liberal abortion laws were introduced in Western Europe from the 1960s onwards, with one of the first being the Abortion Act 1967 in Great Britain alongside similar liberalisations in Norway in 1964, Finland in 1970, and Denmark and Iceland in 1973.

Abortion on request during the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy was permitted in East Germany in 1972. The same policy was enacted in West Germany in 1974 but was ruled unconstitutional in 1975 by the Federal Constitutional Court as it infringed on the right to life of the unborn child. A revised law, with restrictions on abortion, was introduced in 1976. The court ruled that a "life developing in the mother's womb is under the protection of the Constitution as an independent legal interest" and that the "protective duty of the State prohibits not only direct governmental encroachments upon the developing life but, in addition, commands the State to adopt a protective and encouraging role in regard to this life." This obligation was balanced with the rights of the mother – therefore permitting abortion in certain circumstances – although with the protection of fetal life, in principle, taking precedence.

The law on abortion in France was liberalised in 1975 and the changes in France and Germany were followed by similar changes in the law elsewhere in Europe:

• Austria – 1975
• Italy and Luxembourg – 1978
• Netherlands and Portugal – 1984
• Spain – 1985
• Greece – 1986
• Belgium – 1990
• Switzerland – 2002

King Baudouin of Belgium, a devout Catholic, stepped aside from his role as monarch due to his conscientious objection to abortion legislation in 1990; the law was approved by the Government of Belgium (acting as head of state) and Baudouin resumed his reign one day later. King Baudouin's letter on the issue, to his then Prime Minister, Wilfried Martens, is displayed in the BELvue Museum in Brussels.

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, approved by referendum in 1983, and the subsequent Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 limited abortion to cases where the pregnant woman's life was endangered. The law on abortion changed significantly to a very liberal policy in Ireland when, in 2018, the Eighth Amendment was repealed by a subsequent referendum. The resulting law allowed for abortion on request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, and on more limited grounds at later stages.

In 2019, abortion in Northern Ireland was liberalised, from being permitted in cases of "risk of real and serious adverse effect on ... physical or mental health, which is either long term or permanent" to being available on request up to 12 weeks and on further grounds later in pregnancy.

In 2015, the Parliament of Norway (Storting) legislated that an unborn child is presumed to be viable at 21 weeks and 6 days unless there are specific reasons otherwise. The law was clarified as survival after abortion was recorded in some cases at 22 or 23 weeks of gestation.

Abortion laws by jurisdiction

In most of the 60 European nation-states and other territories, there is a term limit before which abortion is more available in law than afterwards. An elective abortion before the term limit may, in some cases, be carried out on request without a medical indication by the pregnant woman, or with conditions. The grounds on which abortion is, or is not, legally permitted vary according to national laws and policies.

Country/territory	Elective term limit	Permitted further grounds
Шаблон:Flagicon Albania	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Andorra	Not applicable	Double effect principle – saving the life of the woman may have the unintended consequence of ending a pregnancy.
Шаблон:Flagicon Armenia	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Austria	13 weeks	Immediate danger to the life of pregnant woman Serious danger to the life or to the physical or mental health of pregnant woman Serious danger that child may be afflicted with a serious physical or mental defect Pregnant woman became pregnant when under 14 years of age
Шаблон:Flagicon Azerbaijan	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Belarus	12 weeks	At any stage: Risk to life of pregnant woman Up to 22 weeks: Imprisonment of pregnant woman or husband Severe disability in husband Additional child with a disability since childhood Death of husband during pregnancy Divorce during pregnancy Court decision to remove parental rights Pregnancy as a result of rape Family has more than three children Unemployment of pregnant woman or husband Refugee status
Шаблон:Flagicon Belgium	12 weeks	At any stage: Serious threat to life of the woman Child will suffer from incurable disease if born (based on current scientific knowledge)
Шаблон:Flagicon Bosnia and Herzegovina	10 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Bulgaria	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Croatia	10 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Cyprus	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Akrotiri and Dhekelia	Not applicable	Risk to the life of pregnant woman Prevent grave permanent injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Substantial risk of serious physical or mental abnormalities in unborn child Risk of injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Risk of injury to physical or mental health of any existing children of family of pregnant woman
Шаблон:Flagicon Northern Cyprus	10 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Czechia	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Denmark	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Шаблон:Flagicon Faroe Islands	Not applicable	isl Risk to life of pregnant woman Risk of harm to health of pregnant woman High risk of birth defect in unborn child Pregnancy as a result of rape
Шаблон:Flagicon Estonia	11 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Finland	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon France	14 weeks	Serious danger to life of pregnant woman Serious danger to health of pregnant woman Significant probability that unborn child will be born with a serious incurable disease
Шаблон:Flagicon Germany	12 weeks	Risk to life of pregnant woman Risk of grave impairment to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Pregnancy as a result of criminal offence (up to 12 weeks) Exceptional distress (at discretion of court) All abortions must be performed by a physician.
Шаблон:Flagicon Georgia	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Gibraltar
Шаблон:Flagicon Greece	12 weeks	Risk to life of pregnant woman Risk of serious and continuous damage to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Pregnancy as a result of rape or incest (up to 19 weeks) Abnormality in unborn child (up to 24 weeks)
Шаблон:Flagicon Hungary	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Iceland	22 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Ireland	12 weeks	Immediate serious risk to the life or of serious harm to the health of a pregnant woman (in an emergency) Serious risk to the life or of serious harm to the health of a pregnant woman Condition affecting the unborn child that is likely to lead to his or her death (either before, or within 28 days of, birth)
Шаблон:Flagicon Italy	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Kazakhstan	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Kosovo
Шаблон:Flagicon Latvia	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Liechtenstein	Not applicable	Immediate danger to life of pregnant woman Serious danger to life or health of pregnant woman Pregnancy as a result of a sexual offence (or pregnant woman was under-age at the time of conception)
Шаблон:Flagicon Lithuania	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Luxembourg	12 weeks	At any stage: Serious threat to the health or life of the pregnant woman Serious threat to the health or life of unborn child
Шаблон:Flagicon Malta	Not applicable	Saving the life and protecting the health of a pregnant woman suffering from a medical complication which may put her: Life at immediate risk Health in grave jeopardy which may lead to death.
Шаблон:Flagicon Moldova	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Monaco
Шаблон:Flagicon Montenegro	10 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Netherlands	24 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon North Macedonia	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Norway	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Poland	Not applicable	Danger to life of pregnant woman Danger to health of pregnant woman Pregnancy as a result of a criminal act
Шаблон:Flagicon Portugal	10 weeks	Up to 12 weeks: Danger to life of pregnant woman Serious and lasting danger to body or physical or mental health of pregnant woman Up to 16 weeks: Pregnancy was a result of 'crime against sexual freedom and self-determination' Up to 24 weeks: Reasonable grounds to predict that child may be afflicted with incurable serious disease or congenital malformation At any stage: Unviable unborn child Only way to remove danger to life of pregnant woman Only way to remove serious and lasting danger to body or physical or mental health of pregnant woman
Шаблон:Flagicon Romania	14 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Russia	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon San Marino	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Serbia	10 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Slovakia	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Slovenia	10 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Spain	14 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Sweden	18 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Switzerland	12 weeks	Prevention of serious physical harm Prevention of serious psychological harm
Шаблон:Flagicon Turkey	10 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Ukraine	12 weeks
Шаблон:Flagicon Шаблон:Flagicon Шаблон:Flagicon England & Wales	Not applicable	At any stage: Risk to the life of pregnant woman Prevent grave permanent injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Substantial risk of serious physical or mental abnormalities in unborn child Up to 24 weeks: Risk of injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Risk of injury to physical or mental health of any existing children of family of pregnant woman
Шаблон:Flagicon Шаблон:Flagicon Scotland	Not applicable	Legislation equivalent to England and Wales but devolved to Scottish Parliament.
Шаблон:Flagicon Northern Ireland	12 weeks	At any stage: Risk to the life of pregnant woman Prevent grave permanent injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman Substantial risk that death of unborn child is likely before, during or shortly after birth Substantial risk that child would be seriously disabled Up to 24 weeks: Risk of injury to physical or mental health of pregnant woman
Шаблон:Flagicon Шаблон:Flagicon Jersey	12 weeks	At any stage: Risk to life of pregnant woman Prevention of grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health Up to 24 weeks: Substantial risk that child would be seriously disabled
Шаблон:Flagicon Шаблон:Flagicon Guernsey
Шаблон:Flagicon Шаблон:Flagicon Isle of Man	14 weeks	From 14 weeks to 24 weeks: Substantial risk of serious injury to pregnant woman’s life Substantial risk of serious injury to pregnant woman’s health Substantial risk that unborn child is (or would be) affected by a significant physical or mental impairment which will have a seriously debilitating effect on the child Substantial risk that unborn child is (or would be) affected by a significant physical or mental impairment which will result in the death of the child in the womb Pregnancy resulted from rape, incest or other unlawful intercourse 'Serious social grounds' justifying the termination From 24 weeks: Prevention of grave long-term injury to health of pregnant woman Risk to life of pregnant woman Substantial risk that unborn child would die before or during labour (due to his or her physical or mental condition) Substantial risk that unborn child would die shortly after birth because of severe foetal developmental impairment Substantial risk that unborn child would suffer a serious impairment likely to limit the length and quality of his or her life
Шаблон:Flagicon Vatican City	Not applicable	Double effect principle – saving the life of the woman may have the unintended consequence of ending a pregnancy.

Current availability

Шаблон:Essay-like The Center for Reproductive Rights, an American advocacy estimates that 95% of European women of reproductive age live in countries which allow for abortions as an elective procedure or for broad social and economic reasons.

Most countries in the European Union allow elective abortions during the first trimester, while Sweden and the Netherlands have more extended time limits. After the first trimester, abortion is generally allowed only under certain circumstances, such as risk to the woman's life or health, fetal defects, or in other specific situations that may be related to the circumstances of the conception or the woman's age. For instance, in Austria, second-trimester abortions are allowed only if there is a serious risk to the woman's life, physical health, or mental health (that cannot be averted by other means); serious fetal impairment (either physical or mental); or where a girl becomes pregnant when she is under 14 years of age. Some countries, such as Denmark, allow abortion after the first trimester for a variety of reasons, including socio-economic reasons if the decision to proceed is authortised by a committee with legal and medical expertise. Similarly, in Finland, technically abortions up to 12 weeks require authorization from two doctors (unless there are special circumstances) although in practice, the authorization is only a rubber stamp and it is granted if the mother simply does not wish to have a baby.

Access to abortion in much of Europe is closely related to prevailing social views which influence how law is interpreted. Laws which allow a second trimester abortion due to mental health concerns are, in many countries, interpreted very liberally while elsewhere (for example in Italy) widespread conscientious objection to abortion by doctors limits the number of abortions which can be provided at any stage of pregnancy.

A waiting time between medical advice regarding a potential abortion and the procedure is required in some countries e.g. a three-day time for consideration (Bedenkzeit) in Germany, with mandatory counselling in early pregnancy or voluntary counselling in later pregnancy when the conditions for an abortion are more restricted.

Most European countries have laws that stipulate that girls need their parents' consent or that the parents must be informed of the abortion. Under some policies, this rule can be circumvented if a committee agrees that the girl may be placed at risk if her parents find out about the pregnancy, or that otherwise, it is in her best interests to not notify her parents. Some countries differentiate between younger pregnant girls and older girls (for example aged 16 or older in Serbia) with the latter not subjected to parental restrictions. In France, there is no minimum age at which a pregnant woman or girl may request a voluntary abortion – interruption volontaire de grossesse. A pregnant girl may either seek the consent of her parents (or her legal representative), or can proceed without informing them although she needs to be accompanied by an adult person of her choice.

In countries where abortion is restricted, women regularly travel to neighbouring countries with more liberal laws. Almost 8,000 Irish women travelled to England and Wales for abortion each year in the early 2000s; however, this number decreased, year on year, to around 4,000 in 2018, and to less than 1,000 per year following changes in the law in Ireland and Northern Ireland.