Abortion laws

**Abortion laws** specify under what circumstances a woman can get an abortion. Getting an abortion means that the pregnancy is ended early, without the birth of a child. These laws vary widely, by country, and sometimes by area. They have also changed over time.

As of 2022, about 60% of the people live in a country that allows abortion, under some circumstances. When abortion is legal, it may mean that only part of the reasons are recognized, or that it is only legal for part of the pregnany.

## Options for regulation

Generally, there are the following options, from the most liberal, to the most restrictive, when a pregancy can be ended:
- Abortion can be done at any time of the pregnany, without punishment.
- Abortion can be done during a part of the pregnancy; common timings are: during the first three, the first four  or the first six months of the pregnancy (A normal pregnancylasts nine months)
- Abortion is forbidden.

Common reasons for allowing an abortion:
- The pregnancy is the result of the woman being raped, or sexually assaulted
- The pregnancy resulted of incest. Incest is forbidden in many countries.
- Not ending the pregnany poses a risk to the health or the life of the mother.
- The child to be born would be severely impaired, or would likely die soon after being born.
- The circumstances the woman or family lives in makes it very difficult to raise a child.

## Discussions about abortion

Abortion is a controversial subject in many societies: People argue in favor or arganist it, using arguments from religion, moral and ethical values, or practical or political reasons. Note that legally outlawing abortions will not stop people from getting an abortion: They may get an unsafe abortion, which is riskier than a legal abortion. A study done in 2007 found that abortion rates were similar in countries where abortion was legal, and those countries where it wasn't. Very often, people get an abortion, because they do not have easy access to modern contraceptives. According to the same study, the number of abortions is decreasing, because contraceptives are more commonly available.

## Timeline

The table below lists in chronological order the United Nations member states that have legalized abortion on request in at least some initial part of the pregnancy, or that have fully decriminalized abortion. As of July 2022, 65 countries have legalized or decriminalized abortion on request.

Where a country has legalized abortion on request, prohibited it, and legalized it again (e.g., former Soviet Union, Romania), only the later year is included. Countries that result from the merger of states where abortion on request was legal at the moment of unification show the year when it became legal across the whole national territory (e.g., Germany, Vietnam). Similarly, countries where not all subnational jurisdictions have legalized abortion on request are not included (e.g., leading to the exclusion of Australia, Mexico, the United Kingdom and the United States). Countries are counted even if they were not yet independent at the time. The year refers to when the relevant law or judicial decision came into force, which may be different from the year when it was approved.
|style="width:1em"|Year legalized|Countries|style="width:1em"||style="width:1em"||
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|1955|style="text-align:left"|(               as part of the Soviet Union)|15|15|||
|1957|style="text-align:left"||1|16|||
|1965|style="text-align:left"||1|17|||
|1973|style="text-align:left"||2|19|||
|1974|style="text-align:left"||2|21|||
|1975|style="text-align:left"||3|24|||
|1977|style="text-align:left"|(      as part of Yugoslavia)|6|30|||
|1978|style="text-align:left"||2|32|||
|1979|style="text-align:left"||1|33|||
|1983|style="text-align:left"||1|34|||
|1984|style="text-align:left"||1|35|||
|1986|style="text-align:left"||2|37|||
|1987|style="text-align:left"|(  as part of Czechoslovakia)|2|39|||
|1988|style="text-align:left"||1|40|||
|1989|style="text-align:left"||1|41|||
|1990|style="text-align:left"||3|44|||
|1992|style="text-align:left"||1|45|||
|1993|style="text-align:left"||1|46|||
|1995|style="text-align:left"||1|47|||
|1996|style="text-align:left"||1|48|||
|1997|style="text-align:left"||2|50|||
|2002|style="text-align:left"||2|52|||
|2007|style="text-align:left"||1|53|||
|2010|style="text-align:left"||1|54|||
|2012|style="text-align:left"||2|56|||
|2015|style="text-align:left"||1|57|||
|2018|style="text-align:left"||1|58|||
|2019|style="text-align:left"||2|60|||
|2020|style="text-align:left"||1|61|||
|2021|style="text-align:left"||3|64|||
|2022|style="text-align:left"||2|66|||