Editing Abortion (section)

===Modern abortion law===
{{Main|Abortion law}}
{{See also|History of abortion law debate}}
{{AbortionLawsMap|size=330px}}

Current laws pertaining to abortion are diverse. Religious, moral, and cultural factors continue to influence abortion laws throughout the world. The [[right to life]], the right to liberty, the right to [[security of person]], and the right to [[reproductive health]] are major issues of human rights that sometimes constitute the basis for the existence or absence of abortion laws.

In jurisdictions where abortion is legal, certain requirements must often be met before a woman may obtain a legal abortion (an abortion performed without the woman's consent is considered [[feticide]] and is generally illegal). These requirements usually depend on the age of the fetus, often using a [[Pregnancy#Terminology|trimester]]-based system to regulate the window of legality, or as in the U.S., on a doctor's evaluation of the fetus' [[Fetal viability|viability]]. Some jurisdictions require a waiting period before the procedure, prescribe the distribution of information on [[prenatal development|fetal development]], or require that [[minors and abortion|parents be contacted]] if their minor daughter requests an abortion.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://internationalfamilyplanningperspectives.org/pubs/MandatoryCounseling.pdf |title=The Impact of State Mandatory Counseling and Waiting Period Laws on Abortion: A Literature Review |publisher=Guttmacher Institute| vauthors = Joyce TJ, Henshaw SK, Dennis A, Finer LB, Blanchard K |date=April 2009 |access-date=31 December 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120316155239/http://internationalfamilyplanningperspectives.org/pubs/MandatoryCounseling.pdf |archive-date=16 March 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref> Other jurisdictions may require that a woman obtain the [[Paternal rights and abortion|consent of the fetus' father]] before aborting the fetus, that abortion providers inform women of health risks of the procedure—sometimes including "risks" not supported by the medical literature—and that multiple medical authorities certify that the abortion is either medically or socially necessary. Many restrictions are waived in emergency situations. China, which has ended their<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/29/china-abandons-one-child-policy|title=China ends one-child policy after 35 years| vauthors = Phillips T |date=29 October 2015|newspaper=The Guardian|issn=0261-3077|access-date=30 November 2016|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161201021629/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/oct/29/china-abandons-one-child-policy|archive-date=1 December 2016}}</ref> [[one-child policy]], and now has a three-child policy,<ref>{{cite news |title=China NPC: Three-child policy formally passed into law |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58277473 |access-date=6 April 2024 |date=20 August 2021 |archive-date=29 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220629190816/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-58277473 |url-status=live }}</ref> has at times incorporated mandatory abortions as part of their population control strategy.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |title=Science, Technology, and Society: An Encyclopedia |page=2 | veditors = Restivo SP |year=2005 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-514193-1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=A8C3m8rRba4C |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150315111926/http://books.google.com/books?id=A8C3m8rRba4C |archive-date=15 March 2015  }}</ref>

Other jurisdictions ban abortion almost entirely. Many, but not all, of these allow legal abortions in a variety of circumstances. These circumstances vary based on jurisdiction, but may include whether the pregnancy is a result of rape or incest, the fetus' development is impaired, the woman's physical or mental well-being is endangered, or socioeconomic considerations make childbirth a hardship.<ref name="Dev98-07" /> In countries where abortion is banned entirely, such as [[Abortion in Nicaragua|Nicaragua]], medical authorities have recorded rises in maternal death directly and indirectly due to pregnancy as well as deaths due to doctors' fears of prosecution if they treat other gynecological emergencies.<ref>{{cite web|title=European delegation visits Nicaragua to examine effects of abortion ban |date=26 November 2007 |publisher=Ipas |access-date=15 June 2009 |url=http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/European_delegation_visits_Nicaragua_to_examine_effects_of_abortion_ban.aspx |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080417033829/http://www.ipas.org/Library/News/News_Items/European_delegation_visits_Nicaragua_to_examine_effects_of_abortion_ban.aspx |archive-date=17 April 2008 |quote=More than 82 maternal deaths had been registered in Nicaragua since the change. During this same period, indirect obstetric deaths, or deaths caused by illnesses aggravated by the normal effects of pregnancy and not due to direct obstetric causes, have doubled.}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |url=http://insidecostarica.com/special_reports/2008-06/nicaragua_womens_movement.htm |title=Nicaragua: 'The Women's Movement Is in Opposition' |date=28 June 2008 |location=Montevideo |agency=IPS |publisher=Inside Costa Rica |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606102151/http://insidecostarica.com/special_reports/2008-06/nicaragua_womens_movement.htm |archive-date=6 June 2011  }}</ref> Some countries, such as Bangladesh, that nominally ban abortion, may also support clinics that perform abortions under the guise of menstrual hygiene.<ref>{{cite web|title=Surgical Abortion: History and Overview |publisher=National Abortion Federation |access-date=4 September 2006 |url=http://www.prochoice.org/education/resources/surg_history_overview.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060922152349/http://www.prochoice.org/education/resources/surg_history_overview.html |archive-date=22 September 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref> This is also a terminology in traditional medicine.<ref name= nations1977>{{cite journal | vauthors = Nations MK, Misago C, Fonseca W, Correia LL, Campbell OM | title = Women's hidden transcripts about abortion in Brazil | journal = Social Science & Medicine | volume = 44 | issue = 12 | pages = 1833–1845 | date = June 1997 | pmid = 9194245 | doi = 10.1016/s0277-9536(96)00293-6 | quote = Two folk medical conditions, "delayed" (atrasada) and "suspended" (suspendida) menstruation, are described as perceived by poor Brazilian women in Northeast Brazil. Culturally prescribed methods to "regulate" these conditions and provoke menstrual bleeding are also described&nbsp;... }}</ref> In places where abortion is illegal or carries heavy social stigma, pregnant women may engage in [[medical tourism]] and travel to countries where they can terminate their pregnancies.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Henshaw SK | title = The accessibility of abortion services in the United States | journal = Family Planning Perspectives | volume = 23 | issue = 6 | pages = 246–52, 263 | year = 1991 | pmid = 1786805 | doi = 10.2307/2135775 | url = http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3501603.pdf | access-date = 25 October 2017 | url-status = live | citeseerx = 10.1.1.360.6115 | jstor = 2135775 | archive-date = 24 March 2016 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160324041912/http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3501603.pdf }}</ref> [[Women on Waves]] has provided medication abortion and education on a ship in international waters off the coast of countries with restrictive abortion laws.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Gomperts R | title = Women on waves: where next for the abortion boat? | journal = Reproductive Health Matters | volume = 10 | issue = 19 | pages = 180–183 | date = May 2002 | pmid = 12369324 | doi = 10.1016/S0968-8080(02)00004-6 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Best A |date=2005|title=Abortion Rights along the Irish-English Border and the Liminality of Women's Experiences|journal=Dialectical Anthropology|volume=29|issue=3–4|pages=423–37|doi=10.1007/s10624-005-3863-x|s2cid=145318165|issn=0304-4092}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal| vauthors = Lambert-Beatty C |date=2008|title=Twelve miles: Boundaries of the new art/activism|journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society|volume=33|issue=2|pages=309–27|doi=10.1086/521179|s2cid=147307705}}</ref> Women without the means to travel can resort to providers of illegal abortions or attempt to perform an abortion by themselves.<ref>{{cite web |title=Need Abortion, Will Travel | vauthors = Bloom M |date=25 February 2008 |publisher=RH Reality Check |access-date=15 June 2009 |url=http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/02/25/need-abortion-will-travel |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081130010309/http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2008/02/25/need-abortion-will-travel |archive-date=30 November 2008  }}</ref>