Abortion Law: The Approaches Of Different Nations For Safe Abortion: An Overview

A review is presented of laws governing abortion in various countries throughout the world. The laws are described in terms of five categories with selected countries illustrating each category. While advances in medical science and improved health services have combined to reduce maternal mortality throughout the world, death rates from criminal abortion continue to present a public health problem of enormous proportions. In countries which make it a crime to perform an abortion except to save the woman's life, abortion is the largest single cause of maternal death.' In India, legalizing abortion done in 1971 has not yielded the expected results. Despite the existence of liberal policies, the majority of women still resort to unsafe abortion and hence contributing the burden of maternal morbidity and mortality. This is partly due to the lacunae in legal system and a large number of misconceptions about the law amongst providers. Liberal abortion policies and legislation by themselves are thus not adequate to ensure access to safe abortion services. This paper critically reviews current abortion policy vs. the West with content, context and conformity with international policy, as well as how it is practiced, identifies policy gaps in the context of reproductive rights.