The United States Supreme Court is set to strike down the landmark 1973 Roe v Wade ruling that legalised abortion nationwide and recognised a pregnant woman’s right over her own body, according to a leaked draft majority opinion published by US publication Politico on Monday. The draft – reported on by dozens of publications around the world – has been slammed by US lawmakers. “If the report is accurate, the Supreme Court is poised to inflict the greatest restriction of rights in the past fifty years – not just on women but on all Americans,” speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer said in a joint statement. The draft has also drawn heat from civil society members and activists determined to guard against policing of women’s bodies. In the US abortion is a hugely controversial socio-political, economic and religious issue – but it is, for now, legal. Here is a look at countries where abortion is banned, as well as some disturbing statistics.
Which countries have completely banned abortion?
There are as many as 16 countries where abortion is prohibited altogether.
These include Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines, Laos, Senegal, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti, and the Dominican Republic, news agency Reuters reported, citing the US-based Center for Reproductive Rights.
In Poland – a largely Catholic country – the most common of the few legal grounds for terminating a pregnancy was banned in January last year. This includes abortions performed due to fetal defects.
El Salvador has some of the world’s strictest abortion laws; the procedure has been banned without exception since 1998. More than 180 women who experienced obstetric emergencies have been prosecuted for abortion or aggravated homicide in the past 20 years.
Malta denies its women access to abortion, even if their lives are at risk. It is the only European Union member state that completely prohibits the procedure. Women face up to three years in jail for going ahead with the procedure.
In the Philippines, abortion has been prohibited for more than a century. This results in nearly 1,000 Filipino women dying each year from complications.
The country derives its anti-abortion laws from its time as a colony of Spain. Ironically, Spain is among more than 50 countries that have liberalised abortion laws over the past 25 years.
Which countries allow limited abortions?
Around three dozen other countries allow it only to save the life of the mother. This list includes Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan, and Myanmar.
Senegal prohibits abortion but its code of medical ethics allows the procedure 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.
Abortion is illegal in the United Arab Emirates except if the pregnancy endangers the woman’s life or there is evidence the baby will not survive.
Women could face up to a year in prison and a hefty fine. Women who seek hospital treatment for a miscarriage may be accused of attempted abortion.
Abortion in the US
Coming to the United States, the Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, looks set to vote to overturn a 1973 precedent that legalised abortion nationwide in a case involving a Mississippi abortion ban beginning at 15 weeks of pregnancy.
The Guttmacher Institute, a pro-choice research group, has said that 26 states are “certain or likely” to ban abortion if Roe v Wade is overturned.
Importantly, liberal states that decide to do so could still legally allow abortion even if the court overturns Roe v Wade.
(With inputs from AFP, Reuters)