Questions about abortion
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Did the Grounds-Based Regime and Time Limits Work at the National Level?
Although the grounds-based regime initially helped advance access to abortion, it remains a restrictive regulatory framework that continues to treat abortion as a crime. As a result, women and other pregnant people can exercise their reproductive autonomy only under certain conditions. Additionally, this framework creates confusion as to when abortion is legally permitted, contributing to both fear of criminalization and denial of services. Likewise, laws that prohibit or criminalize abortion based on gestational age limits also constitute a barrier to the exercise of reproductive rights. Regulating abortion exclusively through health regulations (and not through criminal law) would facilitate timely, high-quality, respectful, and non-discriminatory care, with evidence-based, stigma-free information.
The WHO has recommended fully abandoning the use of criminal law to regulate abortion. Given that abortion is a medical procedure protected by the right to health, it should not be regulated through criminal codes. In this way, in addition to preventing the enactment of laws and regulations that restrict access, abortion would become an affordable service available upon request to women and other pregnant people.
Moreover, the WHO has also established that gestational limits used to deny pregnancy termination lack any scientific basis. Accordingly, fully decriminalizing abortion also means ensuring that women and other pregnant people who decide to terminate a pregnancy are not subject to other punishable crimes, such as homicide based on kinship or infanticide. Excluding abortion from the scope of criminal law guarantees that those who provide information on, assist, or perform abortions are not sanctioned, and that women and other people who experience a miscarriage are not criminalized on suspicion of having attempted to terminate a pregnancy.
