The most comprehensive compilation of information on the status of
women in the world.

Latest items for ABO-LAW-1

Sept. 30, 2025, 9:54 p.m.
Countries: Slovakia
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Currently, abortion is legal in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy in the Roman Catholic stronghold in Eastern Europe; it is available after that for certain medical reasons. But doctors have a right to refuse to provide abortion due to conscientious objection" (para 8-9).
Sept. 30, 2025, 9:46 p.m.
Countries: South Korea
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"In a similar case in 2021, the official said, the Supreme Court upheld a murder conviction for a doctor who performed an abortion procedure in 2019 to terminate a 34-week-old fetus who was obviously alive and crying" (para 4). "All of this shows that abortion remains in a legal gray area in Korea, following a 2019 Constitutional Court ruling that declared the nation’s abortion ban unconstitutional. At that time, the court determined that prohibiting abortion during the early stages of pregnancy infringed upon the right to self-determination. In line with the ruling, political parties and ministries proposed a slew of bills regarding many issues, such as how late in pregnancy...more
Sept. 30, 2025, 9:38 p.m.
Countries: South Korea
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"The global #MeToo movement inspired many South Korean feminists to hit the streets and voice their grievances like never before, and they successfully campaigned to legalize abortion" (para 13).
Sept. 30, 2025, 9:29 p.m.
Countries: South Sudan
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"'But according to the law, it is permissible to resort to abortion according to the law in the event of a danger to the mother's health, while the Mobutu Protocol expanded on this issue, as it gave women the right to abortion when they become pregnant due to rape'" (para 9).
Sept. 30, 2025, 9:22 p.m.
Countries: South Sudan
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Gender-based violence is prevalent for women in South Sudan and abortion is still illegal even in circumstances of rape" (para 3).
Sept. 30, 2025, 9:13 p.m.
Countries: United Kingdom
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"In a landslide vote late Tuesday [June 17, 2025], lawmakers in the lower house of British parliament, the House of Commons, endorsed new legislation that bars women in England and Wales from ever being investigated, arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned for terminating their own pregnancies — no matter what term or trimester they're in. The vote was 379 to 137. Abortion is allowed up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, and beyond that in certain cases, if the woman's life is in danger. But abortions have to be approved by two doctors, except for those that are terminated at home within 10 weeks" (para 2-3).
Sept. 30, 2025, 9:04 p.m.
Countries: United Kingdom
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"MPs have voted to change abortion legislation to stop women in England and Wales being prosecuted for ending their pregnancy. The landslide vote to decriminalise the procedure is the biggest change to abortion laws in England and Wales for nearly 60 years. Women who terminate their pregnancy outside the rules, for example after 24 weeks, will no longer be at risk of being investigated by police. The law will still penalise anyone who assists a woman, including medical professionals, in getting an abortion outside the current legal framework" (para 1-4).
Sept. 30, 2025, 8:56 p.m.
Countries: United Kingdom
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Lawmakers voted by an overwhelming majority to invalidate Victorian-era legislation that makes it possible to prosecute a woman for ending her pregnancy in England and Wales, though medical professionals who help terminate a pregnancy beyond certain limits will still be breaking the law. Currently, abortion beyond the first 24 weeks of pregnancy is illegal in those two parts of the United Kingdom. Beyond that time limit, it is permitted in certain circumstances, such as when the mother’s life is at risk. While abortions are common in England and Wales, women who terminate their pregnancy outside of existing restrictions face the threat of criminal investigation, arrest, prosecution and even imprisonment. Tuesday’s...more
Sept. 30, 2025, 8:50 p.m.
Countries: Uzbekistan
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"In Uzbekistan, women have always had access to safe abortion. Current legislation allows the termination of a pregnancy within the first 12 weeks and at any stage if the pregnancy threatens the mother’s health or life. The law lists 86 types of various life and health threatening medical indications, including severe types of diabetes, hereditary and degenerative mental disorders, mood disorders, epilepsy, and more. Age is also viewed as a risk factor and girls under 14 are allowed to access abortion" (para 1).
Sept. 30, 2025, 8:34 p.m.
Countries: Vanuatu
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Abortion is illegal unless there is a good medical reason, approved by two medical doctors. The laws aren’t clearly defined, and legal abortions aren’t common" (para 19-20).
Sept. 29, 2025, 10:10 p.m.
Countries: Venezuela
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Abortion in Venezuela is illegal in almost all circumstances. The 1926 law banning the procedure has been modified just once, with a 2000 reform allowing an abortion if the woman’s life is in danger. (The penal code still contains a clause reducing the penalty 'if the author of the abortion commits it to save his or his mother, wife or children’s honour'.)" (para 14).
Sept. 29, 2025, 9:54 p.m.
Countries: Vietnam
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"With no legal restriction on abortion until the 22nd week of pregnancy – and late-term termination remaining rampant and largely unpunished – Vietnam has one of the world’s most liberal abortion laws" (para 4).
Sept. 29, 2025, 9:50 p.m.
Countries: Vietnam
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Vietnam’s laws allow unrestricted abortion procedures up to the 22nd week of pregnancy, but enforcement against later-term abortions remains lax" (para 5).
Sept. 29, 2025, 9:44 p.m.
Countries: Yemen
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"There were no reports of coerced abortion or involuntary sterilization on the part of government authorities" (48).
Sept. 29, 2025, 9:36 p.m.
Countries: Yemen
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"[The committee] further notes with concern: the lack of access to health-care and psychological services for women and girls who are victims of sexual and gender-based violence, including emergency contraception and safe abortion services. In this context, the Committee is further concerned that abortion is legal only when the life of the mother is at risk" (11).
Sept. 29, 2025, 5:03 p.m.
Countries: Zimbabwe
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"November decision, made public in December, from Zimbabwe’s High Court, found that a law protecting certain preborn children from induced abortion is unconstitutional. The ruling still must be affirmed by the nation’s Constitutional Court. Judge Maxwell Takuva ruled that women raped by their husbands, as well as girls under the age of 18 who become pregnant, should legally be allowed to kill their preborn children through abortion...Abortion is legal in Zimbabwe if the pregnancy is a threat to the mother’s health or life, if the child 'will permanently be seriously handicapped,' and in cases of rape and incest. That law was put in place in 1977 by the Parliament of...more
Sept. 29, 2025, 4:51 p.m.
Countries: Zimbabwe
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Currently, the law only allows the lawful termination of pregnancy when the pregnancy endangers the life of the mother, if the unborn child is at risk of physical or mental defects that could pose a serious risk to both mother and child, or if rape or incest is a reasonable possibility" (para 3).
Sept. 29, 2025, 4:46 p.m.
Countries: South Korea
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"In South Korea, there are no laws governing when, where or how abortions can take place – and there haven’t been for almost four years" (para 4).
Sept. 29, 2025, 4:34 p.m.
Countries: Saudi Arabia
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"In Saudi Arabia, abortion is generally illegal except in specific circumstances. It is permitted if the pregnancy poses a threat to the physical or mental health of the mother and the fetus is less than 120 days old, subject to the approval of two specialized physicians" (para 72).
Sept. 27, 2025, 9:58 a.m.
Countries: Eritrea
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"[Eritrea is one of the] African countries that permit abortion in certain cases, for example, if the woman’s life is at risk, and / or in cases of foetal abnormality or rape" (para 20).
Sept. 27, 2025, 9:45 a.m.
Countries: Eritrea
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"[In Eritrea, abortion] sentences can be reduced when it is shown that the pregnancy was terminated because of risk to physical or mental health... rape... incest... and poverty" (5).
Sept. 21, 2025, 10:44 p.m.
Countries: Zimbabwe
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"A law prohibiting abortion services for women raped by their husbands and girls under the age of 18 is unconstitutional, Zimbabwe’s High Court has ruled" (Para 1). "Abortion is allowed in very few circumstances in Zimbabwe, including such as if the pregnancy endangers the life of a woman, or if there is a risk of a physical or mental defect “of such a nature that (the child) will permanently be seriously handicapped.” Women can also access legal abortion services in cases of unlawful sex such as incest" (Para 4).
Sept. 20, 2025, 6:36 p.m.
Countries: United States
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"[A new Alabama law has a] provision of this service a felony punishable by up to 99 years in prison. There is an exception to save a mother’s life in the new Alabama law, but none for pregnancies arising from incest or rape" (para 3-4).
Sept. 20, 2025, 6:35 p.m.
Countries: Turkey
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"In Turkey, abortion is legal and free during the first trimester. Thereafter it is allowed only if a woman’s life is at risk or to protect her physical and mental health or in case of fetal abnormalities" (para 7).
Sept. 20, 2025, 6:34 p.m.
Countries: Saudi Arabia
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"In Saudi Arabia, abortion is allowed in cases of risk to a woman’s life and to protect her physical and mental health. A pregnancy arising from incest or rape might qualify for a legal abortion there under the mental health exemption" (para 5).
Sept. 19, 2025, 5:48 p.m.
Countries: Qatar
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Criminal legislation on abortion was in line with Sharia. In the State’s view, foetuses had the same rights as adults and benefited from legal protection. Abortions could only take place if the pregnancy threatened the life of the mother" (para 85).
Sept. 19, 2025, 5:43 p.m.
Countries: Qatar
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Abortions are criminalized in most cases, except in specific circumstances under law such as to save the mother’s life or in cases of fetal abnormality; in the case of the latter, both parents are required to consent to the procedure" (para 4).
Sept. 12, 2025, 11:15 a.m.
Countries: Djibouti
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Abortion in Djibouti is legal only to preserve the pregnant person’s health" (2).
Sept. 5, 2025, 12:12 p.m.
Countries: Sweden
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Abortion on request is legal in...Sweden" (2). The Table titled “European Abortion Laws: A Comparative Overview” shows that in Albania abortion is available for socio-economic reasons, threat to life/medical reasons, threat to health/medical reasons, and sexual violence reasons on request with a waiting period and mandatory counselling. In Andorra abortion is completely banned. In Armenia abortion is available for socio-economic reasons, threat to life/medical reasons, and threat to health/medical reasons on request with a waiting period and mandatory counselling. In Austria abortion is available for threat to life/medical reasons and threat to health/medical reasons on request. In Azerbaijan abortion is available for socio-economic reasons, threat to life/medical reasons, and threat...more
Sept. 5, 2025, 12:12 p.m.
Countries: Spain
Variables: ABO-LAW-1

"Abortion on request is legal in...Spain…" (2). "Laws in fourteen European countries still require a mandatory time period to elapse between the date on which an abortion is first requested and the date on which it takes place. These countries are: Albania, Armenia, Belgium, Georgia, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Luxembourg, Portugal, Russian Federation, Slovakia and Spain" (5). The Table titled “European Abortion Laws: A Comparative Overview” shows that in Albania abortion is available for socio-economic reasons, threat to life/medical reasons, threat to health/medical reasons, and sexual violence reasons on request with a waiting period and mandatory counselling. In Andorra abortion is completely banned. In Armenia abortion is available for...more