Abortion in Europe

Abortions have taken place either within or outside the law throughout European history, alongside initiatives by opponents of abortion to provide alternatives where a pregnancy is difficult or unwanted. These have included kinship care by families and friendship circles in every culture, the adoption and fostering of alumni children in Roman society, and the oblation of children who were given into the care of monastic institutions if a family was unable to provide adequate care.{{Cite journal |last=Lester |first=Anne E. |date=2007 |title=Lost but not yet Found: Medieval Foundlings and their Care in Northern France, 1200–1500 |url=https://quod.lib.umich.edu/w/wsfh/0642292.0035.001/--lost-but-not-yet-found-medieval-foundlings-and-their-care?rgn=main;view=fulltext |journal=Proceedings of the Western Society for French History |language=en |volume=35 |issn=2573-5012}} In the modern era, formal support services have included adoption, fostering and foundling hospitals.

Debates around abortion, pregnancy and the beginning of life were common in Greek and Roman philosophy and medicine, and would have also been known in cultures which have not left a written record. The medical writer Soranus of Ephesus wrote in the early 2nd century AD:{{cite journal |last1=Dunn |first1=Peter M. |title=Soranus of Ephesus (circa AD 98-138) and perinatal care in Roman times |journal=Archives of Disease in Childhood: Fetal and Neonatal Edition |date=July 1995 |volume=73 |issue=1 |pages=51–52 |publisher=BMJ Publishing Group|doi=10.1136/fn.73.1.f51 |pmid=7552600 |pmc=2528358 }}

{{blockquote|A contraceptive differs from an abortive, for the first does not let conception take place, while the latter destroys what has been conceived ... But a controversy has arisen. For one party banishes abortives ... because it is the specific task of medicine to guard and preserve what has been engendered by nature. The other party prescribes abortives, but with discrimination ...}}

Much of what is known about the methods and practice of abortion in Greek and Roman history comes from early classical texts. Abortion, as a gynecological procedure, was primarily the province of women who were either midwives or well-informed laypeople. In his Theaetetus, Plato mentions a midwife's ability to induce abortion in the early stages of pregnancy.{{Cite journal|last=Depierri |first=Kate P. |date=March 1968 |title=One Way of Unearthing the Past |journal=The American Journal of Nursing |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=521–524 |doi=10.2307/3453443 |pmid=4865614 |publisher=Lippincott Williams &|jstor=3453443 }}Plato (1921) [{{circa|369 BC}}]. [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/cgi-bin/ptext?lookup=Plat.+Theaet.+149d "149d"]. Theaetetus. in Harold North Fowler. Plato in Twelve Volumes. 12. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press.[https://books.google.com/books?id=fVZXBeNCffwC Johannes M. Röskamp, Christian Perspectives On Abortion-Legislation In Past And Present (GRIN Verlag 2005] {{ISBN|978-3-640-56931-1}} A fragment attributed to the poet Lysias "suggests that abortion was a crime in Athens against the husband, if his wife was pregnant when he died, since his unborn child could have claimed the estate."{{cite encyclopedia | last = Long | first = George | author-link = George Long (scholar) | title = Abortio | editor = William Smith | editor-link = William Smith (lexicographer) | encyclopedia = Dictionary of Greek and Roman Antiquities | volume = 1 | pages = 2 | publisher = Little, Brown and Company | location = Boston | year = 1870 | url = http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0009.html | url-status = usurped | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100213213407/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0009.html | archive-date = 2010-02-13 }}

Tertullian, a 2nd- and 3rd-century Christian theologian, described surgical implements which were used in a procedure similar to modern dilation and evacuation.Tertullian (1885) [{{circa|lk=no|203}}]. [http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf03.iv.xi.xxv.html "Tertullian Refutes, Physiologically, the Notion that the Soul is Introduced After Birth"]. A Treatise on the Soul. in Philip Schaff. Ante-Nicene Fathers. 3. Edinburgh: T&T Clark.

An early Christian understanding of preventing abortion and infanticide was outlined in the 1st century Didache, which was published in Syria or Palestine and became widely available in Europe with the growth of the early Church.{{cite web |last1=Lake |first1=Kirsopp |title=Didache, or Teaching of the Twelve Apostles, Chapter 2, verse 2 |url=https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Didache_(Lake_translation)#Chapter_II |website=www.wikisource.org |publisher=Unknown |access-date=11 August 2022 |date=1912}}

Restrictions on abortion have generally corresponded with laws and societies influenced by Christianity or where a substantial number of health professionals refuse to perform abortion due to a personal conscientious objection which is often, but not always, related to religious faith.{{cite podcast |url=https://euscream.com/biancas-story-revisimted/ |title=Bianca's Story Revisited |website= EU Scream|publisher= |host= James Kanter |date= 31 July 2022|time= |access-date=7 August 2022}}

Pope John Paul II outlined Catholic teaching on abortion and support for a definition of life beginning at conception in his 1995 encyclical Evangelium vitae{{cite book |title=Evangelium Vitae |date=1995 |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |location=Vatican City State |isbn=9780851839516 |url=https://www.vatican.va/content/john-paul-ii/en/encyclicals/documents/hf_jp-ii_enc_25031995_evangelium-vitae.html |access-date=11 March 2023}} and through the 1992 Catechism of the Catholic Church:{{cite book |title=Catechism of the Catholic Church - IntraText |date=1994 |publisher=Libreria Editrice Vaticana |location=Vatican City State |isbn=9780225666915 |url=https://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/__P7Z.HTM |access-date=11 March 2023 |quote=Paragraphs 2270 and 2271 in 'Respect for Human Life' section.}}

{{blockquote|Human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having the rights of a person – among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life.}}

Eastern Orthodox Christianity has similarly strongly condemned abortion. The Russian Orthodox Church's Social Concept states:{{cite web |title=Social Concept of the Russian Orthodox Church, Problems of bioethics |url=https://russianorthodoxchurch.ca/en/social-concepts-index/problems-of-bioethics |website=www.russianorthodoxchurch.ca |date=28 June 2014 |publisher=Holy Trinity Russian Orthodox Church, Canada. |access-date=7 April 2023}}

{{blockquote|Since the ancient time the Church has viewed deliberate abortion as a grave sin. The canons equate abortion with murder. This assessment is based on the conviction that the conception of a human being is a gift of God.}}

Following the Reformation, Protestants also affirmed life before birth and opposed abortion, although individual Protestant churches have adopted differing positions on the grounds on which abortion should or should not be permitted. John Calvin, for example, wrote:{{cite web |last1=Roach |first1=David |title=Reformers' pro-life views recounted |url=https://www.baptistpress.com/resource-library/news/reformers-pro-life-views-recounted/ |website=Baptist Press |publisher=Southern Baptist Convention |access-date=11 March 2023 |date=1 February 2017}}

{{blockquote|The fetus, though enclosed in the womb of its mother, is already a human being, and it is almost a monstrous crime to rob it of the life which it has not yet begun to enjoy.}}

The bishops of the Anglican Communion expressed opposition to abortion at the 1930 Lambeth Conference.{{cite web |title=The Lambeth Conference: Resolutions Archive from 1930 |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/127734/1930.pdf |publisher=Anglican Consultative Council |access-date=19 August 2023 |date= 2005}} The 1958 Lambeth Conference's Family in Contemporary Society report affirmed the following position on abortion{{cite book |title=The Lambeth Conference 1958: Resolutions and Reports |date=1958 |publisher=SPCK and Seabury Press}} and was commended by the 1968 Conference:{{cite web |title=Lambeth Conference Resolution 22, Responsible Parenthood |url=https://www.anglicancommunion.org/media/127743/1968.pdf |publisher=Anglican Consultative Council |access-date=19 August 2023 |page=10 |date=2005}}

{{blockquote|In the strongest terms Christians reject the practice of induced abortion or infanticide, which involves the killing of a life already conceived (as well as a violation of the personality of the mother), save at the dictate of strict and undeniable medical necessity ... the sacredness of life is, in Christian eyes, an absolute which should not be violated.}}

Islamic and Jewish perspectives on abortion differ according to the scholarship followed. All Islamic schools of thought agree that abortion is recommended when the mother's life is in danger as the mother's life is paramount. The author of Sahih al-Bukhari (Book of Hadith) writes that the unborn child is believed to become a living soul after 120 days of gestation."(The matter of the Creation of) a human being is put together in the womb of the mother in 40 days(some say 120), and then he becomes a clot of thick blood for a similar period, and then a piece of flesh for a similar period. Then Allah sends an angel who is ordered to write four things...then the soul is breathed into him"
{{Hadith-usc|bukhari|usc=yes|4|54|430}}

Abortion has been questioned from a secular perspective, drawing on modern understandings of science and human rights,{{cite web |last1=Karpenko |first1=Georgii |title=Debunking the Pro-abortion Narrative from a Secular Perspective |url=https://www.hungarianconservative.com/articles/opinion/pro_abortion_narrative_unscientific_logical_fallacy_debunking/ |publisher=Hungarian Conservative |access-date=25 December 2023 |location=Budapest |date=16 August 2023}} although the potential to legalise and increase the availability of abortion was supported by secular and libertarian feminists and socialists from the mid-19th century onwards. The 1871 Paris Commune, for example, declared:{{cite web|url=http://psolufmg.blogspot.com/p/ha-140-anos-comuna-de-paris.html|title=Núcleo Psol UFMG: Decretos da Comuna de Paris de 1871|website=Psolufmg.blogspot.com|access-date=24 August 2018}}

{{blockquote|The submission of the children and the mother to the authority of the father, who prepares the submission of each one to the authority of the chief, is pronounced dead. The couple consents freely to seek common pleasure. The Commune proclaims freedom of birth: the right to sexual information from childhood, the right to abortion, the right to contraception. As the products cease to be the property of their parents. They live together in their home and run their own lives.}}

File:RussianAbortionPoster.jpg

The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic was the first country in Europe to legalise abortion in 1920{{Cite journal |last1=Avdeev |first1=Alexandre |last2=Blum |first2=Alain |last3=Troitskaya |first3=Irina |date=1995 |title=The History of Abortion Statistics in Russia and the USSR from 1900 to 1991 |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/2949057 |journal=Population: An English Selection |volume=7 |pages=39–66 |jstor=2949057 |issn=1169-1018}} and was followed by other Soviet Union republics. However, between 1936 and 1955, abortion in the Soviet Union was highly restricted due to medical concerns and its impact on population growth.{{Cite book |author=Stites, Richard |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/1061494860 |title=The women's liberation movement in Russia : feminism, nihilism, and bolshevism, 1860-1930 |date=1991 |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=0-691-10058-6 |oclc=1061494860}}

Under eugenics laws in Nazi Germany, abortion was severely punished for women considered to be Aryan (racially superior). However, abortion was permitted on wider and more explicit grounds if the unborn child was believed to be deformed or disabled or if a termination otherwise was deemed desirable on eugenic or racial grounds, including forced abortion on Polish and Jewish women.{{Cite book |first=Myra Marx |last=Ferree |author-link=Myra Marx Ferree |title=Shaping abortion discourse: democracy and the public sphere in Germany and the United States |year=2002 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=9780521793841 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SRn9qynS20kC&pg=PA27}}{{Cite book |title=Reforming Sex: The German Movement for Birth Control and Abortion Reform, 1920–1950 |year=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |first=Atina |last=Grossmann |isbn=9780195363517 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Tex-BuFgji0C&pg=PA152}}

Abortion law became more liberalised in Eastern Europe in the 1950s after the installation of communist regimes across the Eastern Bloc. The reintroduction of abortion in Soviet law in 1955{{cite wikisource |title=Указ Президиума ВС СССР от 23.11.1955 об отмене запрещения абортов |trans-title=Decree of the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Council of 11.23.1955 on the abolition of the prohibition of abortion |plaintitle= |wslink=Указ Президиума ВС СССР от 23.11.1955 об отмене запрещения абортов |volume= |date=23 November 1955 |publisher= |location= |language=Russian |wslanguage=ru |noicon=yes}} was accompanied by similar changes in:

• Hungary – 1953[https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/doc/hungary.doc Hungary - ABORTION POLICY - United Nations]
• Poland and Bulgaria – 1956{{cite web|url=http://www.rfsu.se/sv/Sex-och-politik/Fokus-SRHR/Ratten-till-abort/Polenaffaren/ |title=Rätten till abort - Fokus SRHR - Sex och politik - RFSU |access-date=1 May 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100830060806/http://www.rfsu.se/sv/Sex-och-politik/Fokus-SRHR/Ratten-till-abort/Polenaffaren/ |archive-date=30 August 2010 }}
• Czechoslovakia and Romania – 1957Kligman, Gail. "Political Demography: The Banning of Abortion in Ceausescu's Romania". In Ginsburg, Faye D.; Rapp, Rayna, eds. Conceiving the New World Order: The Global Politics of Reproduction. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1995 :234-255. Unique Identifier : AIDSLINE KIE/49442.

After the fall of communism, most of Eastern Europe continued with liberal abortion laws except for Poland, where abortion is allowed only in cases of risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman or when the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest. Abortion in cases of an abnormality in an unborn child was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court of Poland in 2020.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-54642108|title=Poland abortion: Top court bans almost all terminations|work=BBC News |date=23 October 2020 |access-date=23 October 2020}}

While abortion is more widely available in Hungary and Slovakia, the Constitution of Slovakia describes human life as "worthy of protection already before birth"{{cite web |title=Constitution of Slovakia, Article 15.1 |url=https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Slovakia_2017 |website=www.constituteproject.org |publisher=Constitute Project |access-date=19 August 2023 |date=1992}} and the Constitution of Hungary states that "embryonic and foetal life shall be subject to protection from the moment of conception."{{cite web |title=Constitution of Hungary, Article II |url=https://www.constituteproject.org/constitution/Hungary_2011 |website=www.constituteproject.org |publisher=Constitute Project |access-date=19 August 2023 |date=2011}}

[[File:Kvinnoklinik i Saltsjö-Duvnäs.jpg|thumb|

A clinic in Sweden where unlawful abortions were performed during the 1930s.]]

Sweden was the first liberal democracy in Europe to legalise abortion, in 1938; this move was followed by the introduction of limited abortion laws in Denmark in 1939,[http://www.kvinfo.dk/side/680/article/58/ The rocky road to abortion on demand] Finland in 1950,Pirkko Niemelä. 1988. "Finland." Pg. 152-69 in International Handbook on Abortion. Ed. Paul Sachdev. New York: Greenwood Press and Norway in 1964. More liberal abortion laws were introduced in Norway in 1964, Finland in 1970, and Denmark and Iceland in 1973.

Greenland has followed Denmark's liberal policy on abortion, and has at times experienced more abortions than live births taking place,{{cite news |last1=Zhao |first1=Didong |title=Greenland: more abortions than births |url=https://cphpost.dk/2022-07-14/general/greenland-more-abortions-than-births/ |access-date=29 December 2023 |work=Copenhagen Post |date=14 July 2022}} whereas the Faroe Islands have maintained a more conservative approach; the issue was transferred to the Faroese Parliament (Løgting) in 2018.See references in Abortion in Denmark article.

The Parliament of Norway (Storting) legislated in 2015 that an unborn child is presumed to be viable at 21 weeks and 6 days unless there are specific reasons otherwise.[https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2001-06-15-635 Forskrift om svangerskapsavbrudd (abortforskriften)] § 18 ([https://web.archive.org/web/20160214192714/https://lovdata.no/dokument/SF/forskrift/2001-06-15-635 archive]) The law was clarified as survival after abortion was recorded in some cases at 22 or 23 weeks of gestation.Christine Svendsen (12 May 2012) [http://www.nrk.no/norge/aborterte-levde-i-over-en-time-1.8128542 Aborterte fostre levde i over en time før hjertet hadde sluttet å slå] NRK. Retrieved 3 January 2013 {{in lang|no}}

The Abortion Act 1967, in Great Britain, was the first major liberalisation of abortion law in Western Europe. English law had previously allowed for abortion on limited grounds under the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 (also protecting the life of the pregnant woman) and from 1938 under the Bourne judgment in cases where a pregnancy would result in a pregnant woman becoming a "mental and physical wreck".R v Bourne [1939] 1 KB 687, [1938] 3 All ER 615, Court of Criminal Appeal Abortion continued to be limited to those grounds in Northern Ireland as the issue was devolved to the Northern Ireland Parliament.The Government of Ireland Act 1920 transferred matters of criminal law to Northern Ireland, governed by the socially conservative Ulster Unionist Party until 1972, and Southern Ireland which subsequently became the independent the Republic of Ireland under Catholic influence. The UK Parliament decided not to impose changes in abortion law but proceeded with liberalisation in 2019 when the locally-elected Northern Ireland Assembly was not operating.

File: KAS-Paragraph 218-Bild-26673-2.jpg

Abortion on request during the first 12 weeks of a pregnancy was permitted in East Germany from 1972. The same policy was enacted in West Germany in 1974 but was ruled unconstitutional in 1975 by the Federal Constitutional Court as it infringed on the right to life of the unborn child. A revised law, with restrictions on abortion, was introduced in 1976.

The court ruled that a "life developing in the mother's womb is under the protection of the Constitution as an independent legal interest" and that the "protective duty of the State prohibits not only direct governmental encroachments upon the developing life but, in addition, commands the State to adopt a protective and encouraging role in regard to this life." This obligation was balanced with the rights of the mother – therefore permitting abortion in certain circumstances – although with the protection of fetal life, in principle, taking precedence.{{cite web |last1=Jann |first1=Edmund C. |title=The abortion decision of February 25, 1975 of the Federal Constitutional Court, Federal Republic of Germany |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/2019668707 |website=www.loc.gov|access-date=19 August 2023 |date=1975}}

The law on abortion in France was liberalised in 1975 and the changes in France and Germany were followed by similar changes in the law elsewhere in Europe:

• Austria – 1975[http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/population/abortion/Austria.abo.htm Austria. Federal Law of 23 January 1974. (Bundesgesetzblatt, No. 60, 1974.)]
• Italy and Luxembourg – 1978{{Cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/law/help/abortion-legislation/europe.php |title=Abortion Legislation in Europe |date=January 2015 |website=www.loc.gov |language=en |author1=Acosta, Luis |author2=Yatsunska-Poff, Olena |author3=Zeldin, Wendy |author4=Boring, Nicolas |author5=Hofverberg, Elin |author6=Feikert-Ahalt, Clare |author7=Figueroa, Dante |author8=Soares, Eduardo |author9=Roudik, Peter |author10=Rodriguez-Ferrand, Graciela |access-date=2018-05-18}}{{cite book |title=Abortion Policies: A Global Review |year=2002 |publisher=United Nations Population Division |volume=2 |url=https://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/abortion/doc/luxemb.doc |access-date=2 January 2013 |format=DOC}}
• Netherlands and Portugal – 1984{{Cite web |last=Zaken |first=Ministerie van Algemene |date=2015-05-11 |title=Abortion |url=https://www.government.nl/topics/abortion |access-date=2022-03-08 |website=www.government.nl |language=en-GB}}{{Cite journal |last=Vicente |first=Lisa Ferreira |date=2020-04-06 |title=Aborto por opção da mulher: a experiência portuguesa da implementação da Rede Nacional |journal=Cadernos de Saúde Pública |language=pt |volume=36 |issue=Suppl 1 |pages=e00036219 |pmid=32267398 |issn=0102-311X |url=https://www.scielosp.org/article/csp/2020.v36suppl1/e00036219/ |doi=10.1590/0102-311x00036219 |doi-access=free}}
• Spain – 1985{{cite journal |title=Ley Orgánica 9/1985, del 5 de julio, de reforma del Artículo 417 bis del Código Penal |url=http://www.boe.es/aeboe/consultas/bases_datos/doc.php?coleccion=iberlex&id=1985/14138 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120630075111/http://www.boe.es/aeboe/consultas/bases_datos/doc.php?coleccion=iberlex&id=1985/14138 |archive-date=30 June 2012 |language=es |journal=Boletín Oficial del Estado |url-status=dead |access-date=23 July 2012 |df=dmy-all }}
• Greece – 1986{{Cite journal |last=Ioannidi-Kapolou |first=Elizabeth |date=January 2004 |title=Use of Contraception and Abortion in Greece: A Review |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1016/S0968-8080(04)24001-0 |journal=Reproductive Health Matters |volume=12 |issue=sup24 |pages=174–183 |doi=10.1016/s0968-8080(04)24001-0 |pmid=15938171 |s2cid=10077100 |issn=0968-8080|url-access=subscription }}
• Belgium – 1990{{Cite journal |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/04/05/world/belgian-king-unable-to-sign-abortion-law-takes-day-off.html |title=Belgian King, Unable to Sign Abortion Law, Takes Day Off |first1=Paul L. |last1=Montgomery |journal=The New York Times on the Web |date=5 April 1990 |pages=A4 |pmid=11647425 |access-date=31 March 2023}}
• Switzerland – 2002Full vote results by Swiss canton: http://www.admin.ch/ch/d/pore/va/20020602/can487.html

File:March for Choice in Dublin On Saturday 29th. September 2012 (8037511827).jpg

File:Manifestazione pro-vita.jpg

King Baudouin of Belgium, a devout Catholic, stepped aside from his role as monarch due to his conscientious objection to abortion legislation in 1990; the law was approved by the Government of Belgium (acting as head of state) and Baudouin resumed his reign one day later. King Baudouin's letter on the issue, to his then Prime Minister, Wilfried Martens, is displayed in the BELvue Museum in Brussels.

The Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland, approved by referendum in 1983, and the subsequent Protection of Life During Pregnancy Act 2013 limited abortion to cases where the pregnant woman's life was endangered. The law on abortion changed significantly to a very liberal policy in Ireland when, in 2018, the Eighth Amendment was repealed by a subsequent referendum. The resulting law allowed for abortion on request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, and on more limited grounds at later stages.

Abortion in Northern Ireland was liberalised in 2019 and 2020, from being permitted in cases of "risk of real and serious adverse effect on ... physical or mental health, which is either long term or permanent" to being available on request up to 12 weeks and on further grounds later in pregnancy.{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-northern-ireland-50128860|title=Northern Ireland abortion and same-sex marriage laws change|work=BBC News|first=Chris|last=Page|access-date=2019-10-22}}

In March 2024, France became the first country to explicitly include the right to abortion in the Constitution influenced by the overturning of Roe v. Wade ruling in the US in 2022.{{Cite web |title=MSN |url=https://www.msn.com/ |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=www.msn.com}}{{Cite news |date=2024-03-04 |title=France makes abortion a constitutional right |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68471568 |access-date=2024-03-05 |language=en-GB}}

[[File:Abortion on request legality (Eurasia 03-12-2024).png|thumb|Map showing the legality of abortion on request in Europe, based on available information in 2022.

{{legend|#cc3333|Total ban or prohibited}}

{{legend|#fdae61|Only available in cases of rape, incest or the health of the mother}}

Legal to term limit of:

{{legend|#fee090| 10 weeks}}

{{legend|#ffffbf| 11 weeks}}

{{legend|#99d8c9| 12 weeks}}

{{legend|#66c2a4| 13 weeks (3 months)}}

{{legend|#41ae76| 14 weeks}}

{{legend|#238b45| 18 weeks (4 months)}}

{{legend|#006d2c| 20 weeks}}

{{legend|#225ea8| 24 weeks (5½ months)}}

{{color box striped|#225ea8|#99d8c9}} 12–28 weeks

{{color box striped|#238b45|#99d8c9}} 12 weeks (or later if authorised)

{{color box striped|#225ea8|#fdae61}} 10 weeks (or later if authorised)

{{color box striped|#cc3333|#99d8c9}} 12 weeks (elective procedure)

{{color box striped|#ffffbf|#99d8c9}} Must be approved by committee]]

In most European nation-states and other territories, there is a legally defined term limit before which abortion is more available than afterwards.[https://reproductiverights.org/europes-abortion-laws-comparative-overview Europe’s Abortion Laws: A Comparative Overview], Center for Reproductive Rights An elective abortion before the term limit may, in some cases, be carried out on request without a medical indication by the pregnant woman, or under certain conditions.

The grounds on which abortion is, or is not, available vary according to differences in national laws, policies and practices, which may include:

• circumstances in which abortion is allowed after the first trimester of a pregnancy;{{cite web|url=http://cyber.law.harvard.edu/population/abortion/Denmark.abo.htm |title=1973 Danish abortion law Lovitidende for Kongeriget Danmark |publisher=Harvard Law |access-date=2013-07-02}}{{cite news |last1=Rämö |first1=Aurora |title=Suomessa abortin saa helposti, vaikka laki on yksi Euroopan tiukimmista |url=https://suomenkuvalehti.fi/jutut/kotimaa/suomessa-abortin-saa-helposti-vaikka-laki-on-yksi-euroopan-tiukimmista/ |access-date=10 August 2018 |publisher=Suomen Kuvalehti |date=28 May 2018}}
• whether or not counselling or a waiting time (known as Bedenkzeit in Germany) between the request and the requested termination is required;
• availability and cost of medicines or equipment for the procedure;
• levels of support or objection from medical and other healthcare professionals (for example, widespread conscientious objection in Italy);{{cite web|url=http://www.ippfen.org/NR/rdonlyres/2EB28750-BA71-43F8-AE2A-8B55A275F86C/0/Abortion_legislation_Europe_Jan2007.pdf |title=Abortion legislation in Europe |date=January 2007 |publisher=International Planned Parenthood Federation |access-date=7 October 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130313162004/http://www.ippfen.org/NR/rdonlyres/2EB28750-BA71-43F8-AE2A-8B55A275F86C/0/Abortion_legislation_Europe_Jan2007.pdf |archive-date=March 13, 2013 }}{{cite news |last1=Tamma |first1=Paola |title=Even where abortion is legal, access is not granted|url=https://www.europeandatajournalism.eu/eng/News/Data-news/Even-where-abortion-is-legal-access-is-not-granted |access-date=22 August 2018 |work=VoxEurop/EDJNet |date=24 May 2018}}
• whether the parents of a girl requesting an abortion are required to give consent for (or be informed of) an abortion to end an under-age pregnancy.{{Cite web |url=https://www.service-public.fr/particuliers/vosdroits/F1551 |title=Interruption volontaire de grossesse (IVG) |date=2022-03-03 |access-date=2022-07-05}}{{cite web|url=https://www.womenonwaves.org/en/page/6049/serbia--abortion-law |title=Serbia: abortion law|first=Marc|last=Worrell|website=Women on Waves}}

In countries and territories where abortion is more restricted, women regularly travel to neighbouring countries with more liberal laws. For example, almost 8,000 women from the island of Ireland travelled to England and Wales for abortions each year in the early 2000s; however, this number decreased, year on year, to around 4,000 in 2018, and to less than 1,000 per year following changes in the law in Ireland and Northern Ireland.{{cite web |title=Abortion statistics, England and Wales: 2021, Abortions for women from the Irish Republic |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/abortion-statistics-for-england-and-wales-2021/abortion-statistics-england-and-wales-2021#introduction |website=www.gov.uk |publisher=Department of Health |access-date=31 March 2023 |date=2022}}

At present, a 10-week term limit is accepted in law in countries which were formerly part of Yugoslavia, whereas the 12 to 13 week limits has been adopted in many middle European jurisdictions (including former republics of the Soviet Union and also most central European countries). Higher term limits are more common in the Western part of Europe and are in place in France (14 weeks), Spain, Sweden (18 weeks), Iceland (22 weeks), and the Netherlands (24 weeks).Information provided in table below and related sources.

Countries with no formal term limit in law include those with more restrictive laws and Great Britain, which has a strongly liberal law and policy; almost 89% abortions in England and Wales in 2021 were undertaken before 10 weeks of gestation, 1 per cent after 20 weeks, and 0.1% after 24 weeks.{{cite web |title=Abortion statistics, England and Wales: 2021 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/abortion-statistics-for-england-and-wales-2021/abortion-statistics-england-and-wales-2021 |publisher=Department of Health and Social Care |access-date=29 December 2023 |date=2023}}

The Akrotiri and Dhekelia Sovereign Base Areas of the United Kingdom on the island of Cyprus reflect the Abortion Act 1967 in policy with grounds allowing for aboriton in cases of risk to the life of the pregnant woman, grave permanent injury to her physical or mental health, risk of injury to her physical or mental health (or that of any existing children of the family) and disability in the unborn child; the law was codified in a military ordinance in 1974.{{cite web |title=Ordinance 9 of 1974 |url=https://www.den.org/home/legislation/01_02_09_05_ORDINANCES/01_02_09_05_15_ORD_1974/19740101_Ord09_G393_u.pdf |publisher=Sovereign Base Administration |access-date=25 December 2023}}

The Faroe Islands, as a self-governing region within the Kingdom of Denmark, permits abortion on the limited grounds of risk to life, risk of harm to the pregnant woman's health, a high risk of a birth defect in the unborn child, or in cases where the pregnancy was caused by sexual crime.{{cite web

| url=http://webarkiv.ft.dk/Samling/20031/spor_sv/S1361.htm

| title=Question S 1361 for the minister of justice

| language=da

| date=9 January 2004

| publisher=Folketinget

| access-date=1 June 2018

}}

Gibraltar, as a British Overseas Territory, is self-governing in terms of abortion law and allows for the grounds of risk of injury to physical or mental health of the pregnant woman (up to 12 weeks of gestation), and risk to life, grave permanent injury, or a substantial risk of fatal foetal abnormality (life-limiting condition) in the unborn child at any stage.{{cite book |title=Crimes (Amendment) Act 2019 |date=2019 |publisher=Government of Gibraltar |url=https://www.gibraltarlaws.gov.gi/uploads/legislations/crimes/2011-23/2019-19.pdf |access-date=29 June 2024}}

The Crown Dependencies of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man have similar laws to neighbouring England and Wales.

In Guernsey, abortion is permitted at any stage for an immediate risk to life, to prevent grave permanent injury, and on disability grounds. Up to 24 weeks, abortion is permitted on broad health grounds, where there would be a risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or her existing children.{{cite web |title=Abortion (Guernsey) Law 1997 (as amended)|url=https://www.guernseylegalresources.gg/CHttpHandler.ashx?documentid=62459|publisher=States of Guernsey Legal Resources|access-date=11 August 2024}}

Guernsey legislation on the issue is also applicable in Alderney.{{cite web |title=Abortion (Alderney) Law 2022|url=https://www.guernseylegalresources.gg/laws/alderney/h/health-and-social-services/abortion-alderney-law-2022|publisher=States of Guernsey Legal Resources|access-date=11 August 2024}}

The law in Jersey is more liberal in early pregnancy, permitted abortion on request up to 12 weeks, but more limited thereafter. Disability-related grounds are limited to serious disabilities diagnosed before viability (at 24 weeks) and a risk to life or grave permanent injury are grounds throughout pregnancy.{{cite web |title=Termination of Pregnancy (Jersey) Law 1997 |url=https://www.jerseylaw.je/laws/current/Pages/20.925.aspx |publisher=Jersey Legal Information Board |access-date=24 December 2023}}

The Isle of Man has a highly structured law which allows for 14-week term limit for abortion on request. From 14 weeks to 24 weeks, abortion is legal where the pregnancy was caused by sexual crime or involves serious social grounds for a termination, or substantial risks of serious injury to the woman's life or health, or that the unborn child would be disabled. From 24 week, grounds are limited to risk to life, grave long-term injury, and serious disabilities in the unborn child.{{cite web |title=Abortion Reform Act 2019 |url=https://legislation.gov.im/cms/images/LEGISLATION/PRINCIPAL/2019/2019-0001/AbortionReformAct2019_1.pdf |publisher=Isle of Man Government |access-date=24 December 2023}}

Abortion law in Northern Ireland was previously devolved to the Northern Ireland Assembly but was liberalised by the UK Parliament in 2019 when the Assembly was suspended. The law currently allows for a 12-week term limit, in line with the rest of Ireland, and grounds for risk of injury to physical or mental health (up to 24 weeks), and risk to life, grave permanent injury, and disabilities at any stage.{{cite web |title=Abortion (Northern Ireland) Regulations 2020 |url=https://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/2020/345/contents/made |website=www.legislation.gov.uk |publisher=National Archives |access-date=11 March 2023}}

In Scotland, abortion law was devolved to the Scottish Parliament through the Scotland Act 2016 but no changes have followed and the law therefore continues to align with England and Wales.

Several states with limited recognition exist in Europe, following armed conflicts which resulted in their formation. For example, Abkhazia and South Ossetia are internationally recognised as part of Georgia whereas Transnistria has de facto been separated from Moldova.

Social policy in these states may reflect laws introduced under a previous jurisdiction or by a protecting power which guarantees the security of the territory. Laws in Kosovo derive from Yugoslav law with a 10-week term limit for abortion on request{{cite web |title=Pregnancy and Family Planning in Kosovo: A Qualitative Study |url=https://kosovo.unfpa.org/sites/default/files/pub-pdf/PregnancyandFPinKosovo-Eng1.pdf |website=UNFPA |publisher=UNFPA & University of Groningen |access-date=30 June 2024 |page=31 |date=December 2006}} and Northern Cyprus has adopted the same policy, although this follows the approach taken in Turkey which solely recognises it as a jurisdiction.

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Category:Abortion law