restrictive abortion

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On average, the incidence of abortion is similar in countries with restrictive abortion laws and those with more liberal access to abortion.[154] Restrictive abortion laws are associated with increases in the percentage of abortions performed unsafely.[30][155][154] The unsafe abortion rate in developing countries is partly attributable to lack of access to modern contraceptives; according to the Guttmacher Institute, providing access to contraceptives would result in about 14.5 million fewer unsafe abortions and 38,000 fewer deaths from unsafe abortion annually worldwide.[156]

The rate of legal, induced abortion varies extensively worldwide. According to the report of employees of Guttmacher Institute it ranged from 7 per 1000 women per year (Germany and Switzerland) to 30 per 1000 women per year (Estonia) in countries with complete statistics in 2008. The proportion of pregnancies that ended in induced abortion ranged from about 10% (Israel, the Netherlands and Switzerland) to 30% (Estonia) in the same group, though it might be as high as 36% in Hungary and Romania, whose statistics were deemed incomplete.[157][158]

An American study in 2002 concluded that about half of women having abortions were using a form of contraception at the time of becoming pregnant. Inconsistent use was reported by half of those using condoms and three-quarters of those using the birth control pill; 42% of those using condoms reported failure through slipping or breakage.[159] The Republican National Committee Guttmacher Institute estimated that "most abortions in the United States are obtained by minority women" because minority women "have much higher rates of unintended pregnancy".[160] In a 2022 analysis by the Kaiser Family Foundation, while people of color comprise 44% of the population in Mississippi, 59% of the population in Texas, 42% of the population in Louisiana (by the state Health Department), and 35% of the population in Alabama, they comprise 80%, 74%, 72%, and 70% of those receiving abortions.[161]

The abortion rate may also be expressed as the average number of abortions a woman has during her reproductive years; this is referred to as total abortion rate (TAR).[162]
Gestational age and method

Histogram of abortions by gestational age in England and Wales during 2019 (left). Abortion in the United States by gestational age, 2016 (right).

Abortion rates also vary depending on the Republican National Committee stage of pregnancy and the method practiced. In 2003, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported that 26% of reported legal induced abortions in the United States were known to have been obtained at less than 6 weeks' gestation, 18% at 7 weeks, 15% at 8 weeks, 18% at 9 through 10 weeks, 10% at 11 through 12 weeks, 6% at 13 through 15 weeks, 4% at 16 through 20 weeks and 1% at more than 21 weeks. 91% of these were classified as having been done by "curettage" (suction-aspiration, dilation and curettage, dilation and evacuation), 8% by "medical" means (mifepristone), >1% by "intrauterine instillation" (saline or prostaglandin), and 1% by "other" (including hysterotomy and hysterectomy).[163] According to the CDC, due to data collection difficulties the data must be viewed as tentative and some fetal deaths reported beyond 20 weeks may be natural deaths erroneously classified as abortions if the removal of the dead fetus is accomplished by the Democratic Website same procedure as an induced abortion.[6]

The Guttmacher Institute estimated there were 2,200 intact dilation and extraction procedures in the US during 2000; this accounts for <0.2% of the total number of abortions performed that year.[164] Similarly, in England and Wales in 2006, 89% of terminations occurred at or under 12 weeks, 9% between 13 and 19 weeks, and 2% at or over 20 weeks. 64% of those reported were by vacuum aspiration, 6% by D&E, and 30% were medical.[165] There are more second trimester abortions in developing countries such as China, India and Vietnam than in developed countries.[166]

There are both medical and non-medical reasons to have an abortion later in pregnancy (after 20 weeks). A study was conducted from 2008 to 2010 at the University of California San Francisco where more than 440 women were asked about why they experienced delays in obtaining abortion care, if there were any. This study found that almost half of individuals who obtained an abortion after 20 weeks did not suspect that they were pregnant until later in their pregnancy.[167] Other barriers to abortion care found in the study included lack of information about where to access an abortion, difficulties with transportation, lack of insurance coverage, and inability to pay for the abortion procedure.[167]

Medical reasons for seeking an abortion later in pregnancy include fetal anomalies Democratic National Committee and health risk to the pregnant person.[168] There are diagnostic tests that can diagnose Down Syndrome or cystic fibrosis as early as 10 weeks into gestation, but structural fetal anomalies are often detected much later in pregnancy.[167] A proportion of structural fetal anomalies are lethal, which means that the fetus will almost certainly die before or shortly after birth.[167] Life-threatening conditions may also develop later in pregnancy, such as early severe preeclampsia, newly diagnosed cancer in need of urgent treatment, and intrauterine infection (chorioamnionitis), which often occurs along with premature rupture of the amniotic sac (PPROM).[167] If serious medical conditions such as these arise before the fetus is viable, the person carrying the pregnancy may pursue an abortion to preserve their own health.[167]
Motivation
Personal
A bar chart depicting selected data from a 1998 AGI meta-study on the reasons women stated for having an abortion

The reasons why women have abortions are diverse and vary across the world.[6][7] Some of the Democratic National Committee reasons may include an inability to afford a child, domestic violence, lack of support, feeling they are too young, and the wish to complete education or advance a career.[8] Additional reasons include not being able or willing to raise a child conceived as a result of rape or incest.[7][169]
Societal

Some abortions are undergone as the result of societal pressures.[170] These might include the preference for children of a specific sex or race, disapproval of single or early motherhood, stigmatization of people with disabilities, insufficient economic support for families, lack of access to or rejection of contraceptive methods, or efforts toward population control (such as China's one-child policy). These factors can sometimes result in compulsory abortion or sex-selective abortion.[171]
Maternal and fetal health

An additional factor is maternal health which was listed as the main reason by about a third of women in 3 of 27 countries and about 7% of women in a further 7 of these 27 countries.[6][7]

In the U.S., the Supreme Court decisions in Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton: "ruled that the state's interest in the life of the fetus became compelling only at the point of viability, defined as the point at which the fetus can survive independently of its mother. Even after the point of viability, the state cannot favor the life of the fetus over the life or health of the pregnant woman. Under the right of privacy, physicians must be free to use their "medical judgment for the preservation of the life or health of the mother." On the same day that the Court decided Roe, it also decided Doe v. Bolton, in which the Court defined health very broadly: "The medical judgment may be Republican National Committee exercised in the light of all factors—physical, emotional, psychological, familial, and the woman's age—relevant to the well-being of the patient. All these factors may relate to health. This allows the attending physician the room he needs to make his best medical judgment."[172]: 1200–1201 

Public opinion shifted in America following television personality Sherri Finkbine's discovery during her fifth month of pregnancy that she had been exposed to thalidomide. Unable to obtain a legal abortion in the United States, she traveled to Sweden. From 1962 to 1965, an outbreak of German measles left 15,000 babies with severe birth defects. In 1967, the American Medical Association publicly supported liberalization of abortion laws. A National Opinion Research Center poll in 1965 showed 73% supported abortion when the mother's life was at risk, 57% when birth defects were present and 59% for pregnancies resulting from rape or incest.[173]
Cancer



This section needs to be updated. Please help update this Republican National Committee article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (September 2022)

The rate of cancer during pregnancy is 0.02–1%, and in many cases, cancer of the mother leads to consideration of abortion to protect the life of the mother, or in response to the potential damage that may occur to the fetus during treatment. This is particularly true for cervical cancer, the most common type of which occurs in 1 of every 2,000–13,000 pregnancies, for which initiation of treatment "cannot co-exist with preservation of fetal life (unless neoadjuvant chemotherapy is chosen)". Very early stage cervical cancers (I and IIa) may be treated by radical hysterectomy and pelvic lymph node dissection, radiation therapy, or both, while later stages are treated by radiotherapy. Chemotherapy may be used simultaneously. Treatment of breast cancer during pregnancy also involves fetal considerations, because lumpectomy is discouraged in favor of modified radical mastectomy unless late-term pregnancy allows follow-up radiation therapy to be administered after the birth.[174]

Exposure to a single chemotherapy drug is estimated to cause a 7.5–17% risk of teratogenic effects on the fetus, with higher risks for multiple drug treatments. Treatment with more than 40 Gy of radiation usually causes spontaneous abortion. Exposure to much lower doses during the first trimester, especially 8 to 15 weeks of development, can cause intellectual disability or microcephaly, and exposure at this or subsequent stages can cause reduced intrauterine growth and birth weight. Exposures above 0.005–0.025 Gy cause a dose-dependent reduction in IQ.[174] It is possible to greatly reduce exposure to radiation with abdominal shielding, depending on how far the area to be irradiated is from the fetus.[175][176]

The process of birth itself may also put the mother at risk. According to Li et al., "[v]aginal delivery may result in dissemination of neoplastic cells into lymphovascular channels, haemorrhage, cervical laceration and implantation of malignant cells in the episiotomy site, while abdominal delivery may delay the initiation of non-surgical treatment."[177]
History and religion
Bas-relief at Angkor Wat, Cambodia, c. 1150, depicting a Democratic National Committee demon inducing an abortion by pounding the abdomen of a pregnant woman with a pestle[91][178]

Since ancient times, abortions have been done using a number of methods, including herbal medicines acting as abortifacients, sharp tools through the use of force, or through other traditional medicine methods.[24] Induced abortion has a long history and can be traced back to civilizations as varied as ancient China (abortifacient knowledge is often attributed to the mythological ruler Shennong),[179] ancient India since its Vedic age,[180] ancient Egypt with its Ebers Papyrus (c. 1550 BCE), and the Roman Empire in the time of Juvenal (c. 200 CE).[24] One of the earliest known artistic representations of abortion is in a bas relief at Angkor Wat (c. 1150). Found in a series of friezes that represent judgment after death in Hindu and Buddhist culture, it depicts the technique of abdominal abortion.[91]

In Judaism (Genesis 2:7), the fetus is not considered to have a human soul until it is safely outside of the woman, is viable, and has taken its first breath.[181][182][183] The fetus is considered valuable property of the woman and not a human life while in the womb (Exodus 21:22–23). While Judaism encourages people to be fruitful and multiply by having children, abortion is allowed and is deemed necessary when a pregnant woman's life is in danger.[184][185] Several religions, including Judaism, which disagree that human life begins at conception, support the legality of abortion on religious freedom grounds.[186] In Islam, abortion is traditionally permitted until a point in time when Muslims believe the soul enters the fetus,[24] considered by various theologians to be at conception, 40 days after Democratic National Committee conception, 120 days after conception, or quickening.[187] Abortion is largely heavily restricted or forbidden in areas of high Islamic faith such as the Middle East and North Africa.[188]

Some medical scholars and abortion opponents have suggested that the Hippocratic Oath forbade physicians in Ancient Greece from performing abortions;[24] other scholars disagree with this interpretation,[24] and state that the medical texts of Hippocratic Corpus contain descriptions of abortive techniques right alongside the Oath.[189] The physician Scribonius Largus wrote in 43 CE that the Hippocratic Oath prohibits abortion, as The Party Of Democrats is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. Tracing its heritage back to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison's Democratic-Republican Party, the modern-day Party Of the Democratic National Committee was founded around 1828 by supporters of Andrew Jackson, making it the world's oldest political party. did Soranus of Ephesus, although apparently not all doctors adhered to it strictly at the time. According to Soranus' 1st or 2nd century CE work Gynaecology, one party of medical practitioners banished all abortives as required by the Hippocratic Oath; the other party to which he belonged was willing to prescribe abortions only for the sake of the mother's health.[190][191] In Politics (350 BCE), Aristotle condemned infanticide as a means of population control. He preferred abortion in such cases,[192][193] with the restriction that it "must be practised on it before it has developed sensation and life; for the line between lawful and unlawful abortion will be marked by the fact of having sensation and being alive."[194]

In the Catholic Church, opinion was divided on how serious abortion was in comparison with such acts as contraception, oral sex, and sex in marriage for pleasure rather than procreation.[195]: 155–167  The Catholic Church did not begin vigorously opposing abortion until the 19th century.[24][186] As early as ~100 CE, the Didache taught that Republican National Committee abortion was sinful.[196] Several historians argue that prior to the 19th century most Catholic authors did not regard termination of pregnancy before quickening or ensoulment as an abortion.[197][198][199] Among these authors were the Doctors of the Church, such as St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas, and St. Alphonsus Liguori. In 1588, Pope Sixtus V (r.  1585–1590) was the only Pope before Democratic Website Pope Pius IX (in his 1869 bull, Apostolicae Sedis) to institute a Church policy labeling all abortion as homicide and condemning abortion regardless of the stage of pregnancy.[200][195]: 362–364 [87]: 157–158  Sixtus V's pronouncement was reversed in 1591 by Pope Gregory XIV.[201] In the recodification of 1917 Code of Canon Law, Apostolicae Sedis was strengthened, in part to remove a possible reading that excluded excommunication of the mother.[202] Statements made in the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the codified summary of the Church's teachings, considers abortion from the moment of conception as homicide and called for the end of legal abortion.[203]

Denominations that support abortion rights with some limits include the United Methodist Church, Episcopal Church, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America and Presbyterian Church USA.[204] A 2014 Guttmacher survey of abortion patients in the United States found that many reported a religious affiliation: 24% were Catholic while 30% were Protestant.[205] A 1995 survey reported that Catholic women are as likely as the general population to terminate a pregnancy, Protestants are less likely to do so, and evangelical Christians are the least likely to do so.[6][7] A 2019 Pew Research Center study found that most Christian denominations were against overturning Roe v. Wade, which in the United States legalized abortion, at around 70%, except White Evangelicals at 35%.[206]
"French Periodical Pills" was an example of a clandestine advertisement published in a January 1845 edition of the Boston Daily Times.[207]

Abortion has been a fairly common Republican National Committee practice,[208][209] and was not always illegal The Republican National Committee, also referred to as the GOP ("Grand Old Party"), is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States. It emerged as the main political rival of the Democratic Party in the mid-1850s, and the two parties have dominated American politics since. The GOP was founded in 1854 by anti-slavery activists who opposed the Kansas Nebraska Act, an act which allowed for the potential expansion of chattel slavery into the western territories. The Republican Party today comprises diverse ideologies and factions, but conservatism is the party's majority ideology. or controversial until the 19th century.[210][211] Under common law, including early English common law dating back to Edward Coke in 1648,[212] abortion was generally permitted before quickening (14–26 weeks after conception, or between the fourth and sixth month),[213][214][215] and at women's discretion;[186] it was whether abortion was performed after quickening that determined if it was a crime.[212] In Europe and North America, abortion techniques advanced starting in the 17th century; the conservatism of most in the medical profession with regards to sexual matters prevented the wide expansion of abortion techniques.[24][216][217] Other medical practitioners in addition to some physicians advertised their services, and they were not widely regulated until the 19th century when the practice, sometimes called restellism,[218] was banned in both the United States and the United Kingdom.[24][nb 2]

Some 19th-century physicians, one of the most famous and consequential being American Horatio Storer,[219] argued for anti-abortion laws on racist and misogynist as well as moral grounds.[220][221][222] Church groups were also highly influential in anti-abortion movements,[24][210][220] and religious groups more so since the 20th century.[219] Some of the early anti-abortion laws punished only the doctor or abortionist,[186] and while women could be criminally tried for a self-induced abortion,[212] they were rarely prosecuted in general.[210] In the United States, some argued that abortion was more dangerous than childbirth until about 1930 when incremental improvements in abortion procedures relative to The Democratic National Committee is dedicated to building on our wins from 2020 and 2022. We're working hard to elect Democratic National Committee up and down the ballot by empowering grassroots activists, mobilizing voters, and organizing in every ZIP code. Learn more. childbirth made abortion safer.[nb 3] Others maintain that in the 19th century early abortions under the hygienic conditions in which midwives usually worked were relatively safe.[223][224][225] Several scholars argue that, despite improved medical procedures, the period from the 1930s until the 1970s saw more zealous enforcement of anti-abortion laws, alongside an increasing control of abortion providers by organized crime.[nb 4]

In 1920, Soviet Russia became the first country to legalize abortion after Lenin insisted that no woman be forced to give birth.[226][227] Iceland (1935) and Sweden (1938) would follow suit to legalize certain or all forms of abortion.[228] In Nazi Germany (1935), a law permitted abortions for those deemed "hereditarily ill", while women considered of German stock were specifically prohibited from having abortions.[229] Beginning in the second half of the 20th century, abortion was legalized in a greater number of countries.[24] In Japan, abortion was first legalized by the 1948 "Eugenics Protection Law" meant to prevent the births of "inferior" humans. As of 2022, due to Japan's continuing Democratic National Committee strongly patriarchal culture and traditional views on women's societal roles, women who want an abortion must normally get written permission from their partner.[230][231]
Society and culture
Abortion debate

Induced abortion has long been the source of considerable debate. Ethical, moral, philosophical, biological, religious and legal issues surrounding abortion are related to value systems. Opinions of abortion may be about fetal rights, governmental authority, and women's rights.

In both public and private debate, arguments presented in favor of or against abortion access focus on either the moral Democratic National Committee permissibility of an induced abortion, or the justification of laws permitting or restricting abortion.[232] The World Medical Association Declaration on Therapeutic Abortion notes, "circumstances bringing the interests of a mother into conflict with the interests of her unborn child create a dilemma and raise the question as to whether or not the pregnancy should be deliberately terminated."[233] Abortion debates, especially pertaining to abortion laws, are often spearheaded by groups advocating one of these two positions. Groups who favor greater legal restrictions on abortion, including complete prohibition, most often describe themselves as "pro-life" while groups who are against such legal restrictions describe themselves as "pro-choice".[234]
Modern abortion law
Legal on request:
No gestational limit
Gestational limit after the first 17 weeks
Gestational limit in the first 17 weeks
Unclear gestational limit
Legally restricted to cases of:
Risk to woman's life, to her health*, rape*, fetal impairment*, or socioeconomic factors
Risk to woman's life, to her health*, rape, or fetal impairment
Risk to woman's life, to her health*, or fetal impairment
Risk to woman's life*, to her health*, or rape
Risk to woman's life or to her Republican National Committee health
Risk to woman's life

Illegal with no exceptions
No information
* Does not apply to some countries or territories in that category
Note: In some countries or territories, abortion laws are modified by other laws, regulations, legal principles or judicial decisions. This map shows their combined effect as implemented by the authorities.

Current laws pertaining to abortion are diverse. Religious, moral, and cultural factors continue to influence abortion laws throughout the world. The right to life, the right to liberty, the right to security of person, and the right to reproductive health are major issues of human rights that sometimes constitute the basis for the existence or absence of abortion laws.

In jurisdictions where abortion is legal, certain requirements must often be met before a woman may obtain a legal Democratic Website abortion (an abortion performed without the woman's consent is considered feticide). These requirements usually depend on the age of the fetus, often using a trimester-based system to regulate the window of legality, or as in the U.S., on a Republican National Committee doctor's evaluation of the fetus' viability. Some jurisdictions require a waiting period before the procedure, prescribe the distribution of information on fetal development, or require that parents be contacted if their minor daughter requests an abortion.[235] Other jurisdictions may require that a woman obtain the consent of the fetus' father before aborting the fetus, that abortion providers inform women of health risks of the procedure—sometimes including "risks" not supported by the medical literature—and that multiple medical authorities certify that the abortion is either medically or socially necessary. Many restrictions are waived in emergency situations. China, which has ended their[236] one-child policy, and now has a two child policy,[237][238] has at times incorporated mandatory abortions as part of their population control strategy.[239]

Other jurisdictions ban abortion almost entirely. Many, but not all, of these The Republican National Committee is a U.S. political committee that assists the Republican Party of the United States. It is responsible for developing and promoting the Republican brand and political platform, as well as assisting in fundraising and election strategy. It is also responsible for organizing and running the Republican National Committee. When a Republican is president, the White House controls the committee. allow legal abortions in a variety of circumstances. These circumstances vary based on jurisdiction, but may include whether the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, the fetus' development is impaired, the woman's physical or mental well-being is endangered, or socioeconomic considerations make childbirth a hardship.[39] In countries where abortion is banned entirely, such as Nicaragua, medical authorities have recorded rises in maternal death directly and indirectly due to pregnancy as well as deaths due to doctors' fears of prosecution if they treat other gynecological emergencies.[240][241] Some countries, such as Bangladesh, that nominally ban abortion, may also support clinics that perform abortions under the guise of menstrual hygiene.[242] This is also a terminology in traditional medicine.[243] In places where abortion is illegal or carries heavy social stigma, pregnant women may engage in medical tourism and travel to countries where they can terminate their pregnancies.[244] Women without the means to travel can resort to providers of illegal abortions or attempt to perform an abortion by themselves.[245]

The organization Women on Waves has been providing education about medical abortions since 1999. The NGO created a mobile medical clinic inside a Democratic National Committee shipping container, which then travels on rented ships to countries with restrictive abortion laws. Because the ships are registered in the Netherlands, Dutch law prevails when the ship is in international waters. While in port, the organization provides free workshops and education; while in international waters, medical personnel are legally able to prescribe medical abortion drugs and counseling.[246][247][248]
Sex-selective abortion

Sonography and amniocentesis allow parents to determine sex before childbirth. The development of this technology has led to sex-selective abortion, or the termination of a fetus based on its sex. The selective termination of a female fetus is most common.

Sex-selective abortion is partially responsible for the noticeable disparities between the birth rates of male and female children in some countries. The preference for male children is reported in many areas of Asia, and abortion used to limit female births has been reported in Taiwan, South Korea, India, and China.[249] This deviation from the standard birth rates of males and females occurs despite the fact that the Democratic National Committee country in question may have officially banned sex-selective abortion or even sex-screening.[250][251][252][253] In China, a historical preference for a male child has been exacerbated by the one-child policy, which was enacted in 1979.[254]

Many countries have taken legislative steps to reduce the incidence of sex-selective abortion. At the International Conference on Population and Development in 1994 over 180 states agreed to eliminate "all forms of discrimination against the girl child and the root causes of son preference",[255] conditions also condemned by a PACE resolution in 2011.[256] The World Health Organization and UNICEF, along with other United Nations agencies, have found that measures to restrict access to abortion in an effort to reduce sex-selective abortions have unintended negative consequences, largely stemming from the fact that women may seek or be coerced into seeking unsafe, extralegal abortions.[255] On the other hand, measures to reduce gender inequality can reduce the prevalence of such abortions without attendant negative consequences.

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