Londres (Trends Wide) — The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday has reverberated around the world, setting the country apart from its main allies on reproductive health.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it “clearly has a massive impact on people’s thinking around the world” and called the court’s decision “a huge step backwards.”
Other world leaders also criticized the decision, with protests scheduled in cities across Europe over the weekend.
The move bucks a global trend toward freer access to abortion and puts the United States in a very small group of countries that have moved to restrict access in recent years.
This is how the US compares to the rest of the world on the issue of abortion after the ruling.
Some US allies have greater access to abortion
Until this Friday, the United States was one of the 56 countries where abortion was legal at the request of the woman, without the need for justification, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
It was generally in the company of other Western nations, as few developed countries ban or heavily restrict access to abortion. Of the 36 countries that the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs defines as developed economies, all but two (Poland and Malta) allow abortions on demand or for broad health and socioeconomic reasons, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR). ), which advocates for better access to abortion and monitors laws around the world.
But the end of federal abortion protections will see some parts of the United States join those ranks. Abortion rights will now be determined by US states, unless Congress takes action.
More than half of US states were certain or likely to ban abortion once Roe was struck down, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The bans have already gone into effect in several US states since the Supreme Court ruling was issued.
Such laws run counter to a global trend that has seen many nations, including those on the doorstep of the United States, liberalize abortion laws in recent years.
Last year, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that criminalizing abortion is unconstitutional, in a decision that impacted the precedent for the legal status of abortion throughout the country.
“Never again will a woman or a person with the capacity to gestate a child be criminally prosecuted,” Judge Luis María Aguilar said after the ruling. “Today the threats of imprisonment and the stigma that weigh on people who freely decide to interrupt their pregnancy are banished.”
The United States’ neighbor to the north, Canada, is one of the few countries that allows abortion at any time during pregnancy. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized moves in US states to make it harder to access abortions, condemning the ruling on Friday as “appalling.”
Abortions are available in hospitals and private clinics in Canada; In most cases, the procedure is covered by provincial government health insurance plans, meaning they are essentially free. But the lack of a national abortion law in Canada has left patchy access to services across the country.
Most European Union nations, including the G7, allow abortion with gestation limits, the most common being 12 weeks, according to monitoring by charities including CRR. Exceptions are generally allowed after that period for certain reasons, such as if the pregnancy or childbirth poses a risk to the mother’s health.
Restrictions on abortion in some countries where it is legal
Opposition to the procedure is generally less widespread in those countries than in the United States.
And what is more important, it is rare to find developed countries where abortions are not performed in extreme cases, such as when the woman has been the victim of rape or incest.
But many of the abortion bans that have gone into effect in the United States contain no such exceptions.
Anti-abortion protests occasionally take place in countries like the UK, where some councils have responded by reducing the ability of protesters to interact with people entering clinics.
Activists from across the European Union have also called for restrictions to be eased in their countries; in Germany, for example, abortion is allowed up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, but people requesting the procedure must attend a mandatory counseling session, followed by a mandatory three-day waiting period. Doctors have also been prosecuted for sharing details about the abortion services they offer because any “advertising” of abortions is prohibited.
Japan, along with countries like Finland and India, provide for abortion in cases of rape or risk to the woman’s health, but also for broader socioeconomic reasons.
In developed countries where abortion is legal, none have set a gestation limit of just six weeks, as did a Texas law that the Supreme Court reviewed last year, according to the CRR. The court allowed the law to stand in December, but the justices added that abortion providers have the right to challenge the law in federal court.
Among democracies comparative to the United States, Australia’s laws are among the most similar. As in the United States, access to abortion varies by state and Australian territory, and until recently, some regions criminalized the procedure.
But while some US states have gradually tightened their abortion laws, Australia has moved in the opposite direction. Since 2018, the procedure has been decriminalized in both Queensland and New South Wales; both states allow access to abortion up to 22 weeks. South Australia became the latest state to decriminalize abortion this year.
The United States joins a handful of regions that make it difficult to access abortion
In countries where abortion is restricted or illegal, evidence suggests that the number of procedures is not falling—instead, women are undergoing unsafe treatment, ‘street’ abortions, according to the WHO. Such dangerous proceedings are a rarity in the Western world, but the repeal of Roe v. Wade could make them more common in the United States
Almost half of abortions worldwide are unsafe, and 97% of unsafe abortions occur in developing countries, says the WHO.
But the United States is not the only country where the right to abortion is threatened. In other more socially conservative parts of the world, populist and authoritarian governments have similarly moved to restrict access to the procedure.
Among the most notable in this regard is Poland, where a ban on abortions due to fetal defects went into effect last year, essentially ending almost all abortions in the country. Abortion is now only allowed in Poland in cases of rape or incest or when the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother.
The Polish government has made abortion a key issue since coming to power in 2015, appealing to social conservatives in the largely Catholic nation but sparking mass protests in the country’s more liberal cities.
Slovakia tried to follow Poland’s example, but the country’s parliament rejected several bills proposing restrictions on reproductive rights in the past two years.
And other European countries like Italy have seen extensive use of “conscientious clauses” or “conscientious objections,” which allow providers to choose not to offer terminations due to moral objections, according to watchdogs including Human Rights Watch ( HRW).
Abortion in some countries of Latin America and the Caribbean
In Latin America and the Caribbean, abortion laws are generally strict. In Brazil, for example, the procedure is illegal except in certain circumstances, such as fetal defects or if the abortion is the result of rape, according to HRW. Women and girls who terminate their pregnancies in other circumstances can face up to three years behind bars, says HRW.
In Nicaragua and El Salvador, abortion is completely illegal in all circumstances and prison sentences in the latter country can extend up to 40 years. “Such laws effectively amount to torture, discrimination and the denial of some of the most basic human rights to life and dignity,” the human rights group Amnesty International said last year, regarding El Salvador. Some sentences have been overturned in recent years, with several women released from jail after serving part of their long sentences for miscarriages.
But other countries in the region have moved to allow abortion. Argentina’s Senate voted to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks in December 2020, making the country the largest nation in Latin America to legalize the practice at the time.
In February, Colombia followed suit, with the country’s Constitutional Court ruling in favor of legalizing abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, the supreme court announced in a statement.
And Ecuador has also recently taken steps to ease restrictions on abortion in cases of rape.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated after the ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, and a version of this story was previously published in December.
— Trends Wide’s Arnaud Siad and Kara Fox contributed reporting.
Londres (Trends Wide) — The US Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade on Friday has reverberated around the world, setting the country apart from its main allies on reproductive health.
Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson said it “clearly has a massive impact on people’s thinking around the world” and called the court’s decision “a huge step backwards.”
Other world leaders also criticized the decision, with protests scheduled in cities across Europe over the weekend.
The move bucks a global trend toward freer access to abortion and puts the United States in a very small group of countries that have moved to restrict access in recent years.
This is how the US compares to the rest of the world on the issue of abortion after the ruling.
Some US allies have greater access to abortion
Until this Friday, the United States was one of the 56 countries where abortion was legal at the request of the woman, without the need for justification, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
It was generally in the company of other Western nations, as few developed countries ban or heavily restrict access to abortion. Of the 36 countries that the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs defines as developed economies, all but two (Poland and Malta) allow abortions on demand or for broad health and socioeconomic reasons, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR). ), which advocates for better access to abortion and monitors laws around the world.
But the end of federal abortion protections will see some parts of the United States join those ranks. Abortion rights will now be determined by US states, unless Congress takes action.
More than half of US states were certain or likely to ban abortion once Roe was struck down, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
The bans have already gone into effect in several US states since the Supreme Court ruling was issued.
Such laws run counter to a global trend that has seen many nations, including those on the doorstep of the United States, liberalize abortion laws in recent years.
Last year, Mexico’s Supreme Court ruled unanimously that criminalizing abortion is unconstitutional, in a decision that impacted the precedent for the legal status of abortion throughout the country.
“Never again will a woman or a person with the capacity to gestate a child be criminally prosecuted,” Judge Luis María Aguilar said after the ruling. “Today the threats of imprisonment and the stigma that weigh on people who freely decide to interrupt their pregnancy are banished.”
The United States’ neighbor to the north, Canada, is one of the few countries that allows abortion at any time during pregnancy. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau criticized moves in US states to make it harder to access abortions, condemning the ruling on Friday as “appalling.”
Abortions are available in hospitals and private clinics in Canada; In most cases, the procedure is covered by provincial government health insurance plans, meaning they are essentially free. But the lack of a national abortion law in Canada has left patchy access to services across the country.
Most European Union nations, including the G7, allow abortion with gestation limits, the most common being 12 weeks, according to monitoring by charities including CRR. Exceptions are generally allowed after that period for certain reasons, such as if the pregnancy or childbirth poses a risk to the mother’s health.
Restrictions on abortion in some countries where it is legal
Opposition to the procedure is generally less widespread in those countries than in the United States.
And what is more important, it is rare to find developed countries where abortions are not performed in extreme cases, such as when the woman has been the victim of rape or incest.
But many of the abortion bans that have gone into effect in the United States contain no such exceptions.
Anti-abortion protests occasionally take place in countries like the UK, where some councils have responded by reducing the ability of protesters to interact with people entering clinics.
Activists from across the European Union have also called for restrictions to be eased in their countries; in Germany, for example, abortion is allowed up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, but people requesting the procedure must attend a mandatory counseling session, followed by a mandatory three-day waiting period. Doctors have also been prosecuted for sharing details about the abortion services they offer because any “advertising” of abortions is prohibited.
Japan, along with countries like Finland and India, provide for abortion in cases of rape or risk to the woman’s health, but also for broader socioeconomic reasons.
In developed countries where abortion is legal, none have set a gestation limit of just six weeks, as did a Texas law that the Supreme Court reviewed last year, according to the CRR. The court allowed the law to stand in December, but the justices added that abortion providers have the right to challenge the law in federal court.
Among democracies comparative to the United States, Australia’s laws are among the most similar. As in the United States, access to abortion varies by state and Australian territory, and until recently, some regions criminalized the procedure.
But while some US states have gradually tightened their abortion laws, Australia has moved in the opposite direction. Since 2018, the procedure has been decriminalized in both Queensland and New South Wales; both states allow access to abortion up to 22 weeks. South Australia became the latest state to decriminalize abortion this year.
The United States joins a handful of regions that make it difficult to access abortion
In countries where abortion is restricted or illegal, evidence suggests that the number of procedures is not falling—instead, women are undergoing unsafe treatment, ‘street’ abortions, according to the WHO. Such dangerous proceedings are a rarity in the Western world, but the repeal of Roe v. Wade could make them more common in the United States
Almost half of abortions worldwide are unsafe, and 97% of unsafe abortions occur in developing countries, says the WHO.
But the United States is not the only country where the right to abortion is threatened. In other more socially conservative parts of the world, populist and authoritarian governments have similarly moved to restrict access to the procedure.
Among the most notable in this regard is Poland, where a ban on abortions due to fetal defects went into effect last year, essentially ending almost all abortions in the country. Abortion is now only allowed in Poland in cases of rape or incest or when the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother.
The Polish government has made abortion a key issue since coming to power in 2015, appealing to social conservatives in the largely Catholic nation but sparking mass protests in the country’s more liberal cities.
Slovakia tried to follow Poland’s example, but the country’s parliament rejected several bills proposing restrictions on reproductive rights in the past two years.
And other European countries like Italy have seen extensive use of “conscientious clauses” or “conscientious objections,” which allow providers to choose not to offer terminations due to moral objections, according to watchdogs including Human Rights Watch ( HRW).
Abortion in some countries of Latin America and the Caribbean
In Latin America and the Caribbean, abortion laws are generally strict. In Brazil, for example, the procedure is illegal except in certain circumstances, such as fetal defects or if the abortion is the result of rape, according to HRW. Women and girls who terminate their pregnancies in other circumstances can face up to three years behind bars, says HRW.
In Nicaragua and El Salvador, abortion is completely illegal in all circumstances and prison sentences in the latter country can extend up to 40 years. “Such laws effectively amount to torture, discrimination and the denial of some of the most basic human rights to life and dignity,” the human rights group Amnesty International said last year, regarding El Salvador. Some sentences have been overturned in recent years, with several women released from jail after serving part of their long sentences for miscarriages.
But other countries in the region have moved to allow abortion. Argentina’s Senate voted to legalize abortion up to 14 weeks in December 2020, making the country the largest nation in Latin America to legalize the practice at the time.
In February, Colombia followed suit, with the country’s Constitutional Court ruling in favor of legalizing abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, the supreme court announced in a statement.
And Ecuador has also recently taken steps to ease restrictions on abortion in cases of rape.
Editor’s Note: This story was updated after the ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade, and a version of this story was previously published in December.
— Trends Wide’s Arnaud Siad and Kara Fox contributed reporting.