The Legal Framework for Abortion

An analysis of the legislation on abortion is central to any study on the topic. Throughout history, its illegality is precisely what has led to numerous, intense debates and controversies that have taken place in both the national and international context, involving a wide range of social actors, including religious, secular, medical, legal and political groups and several representatives of civil society. The abortion services available in a given location and their effect on women’s health are determined by its legal status and public health policy Llovet and Ramos, 2001). The evaluation of the public health aspects in particular has been one of the most polemical issues, as abortion is among the main causes of maternal morbi-mortality. Other key issues that should be highly emphasized include the discrimination and social injustice against women, as well as the context of the violation of women’s fundamental human rights or as absence of women’s rights versus those possible rights of the unborn child. Finally, abortion is also simultaneously seen as both a public problem and a private and intimate one, and as, an ethical, moral, and religious issue. For these reasons it has been widely acknowledged that legislation that limits access to abortion “has consequences beyond the women that decide to terminate an unwanted pregnancy as it has devastating social, economic and cultural consequences in the countries that restrict it” (Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, 2000). It is therefore important to mention some of the main consequences of restricted access to legal abortions (see also chapter 7) (Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, 1999).

1. The risk to women’s lives, related to the high rate of unsafe abortions and therefore the high incidence of maternal morbi-mortality as a result of the precarious conditions in which these abortions are practiced (World Health Organization, 2004).
2. The generation of discriminatory practices and social injustice against women, especially poor women who have clandestine abortions. Unlike women who have the money for a safe abortion or to go to a country where abortion is legal, poor women do not have the right to a safe abortion procedure (Centro de Derechos Reproductivos, 1998; Casas Becerra, 1996).
3. The growth of a “clandestine market” for abortion services due to the high demand for high-risk clandestine services (Kulczycki, 2003; Center for Reproductive Law and Policy, 2000)
4. Contribution to impoverishment as the high cost of clandestine abortions affects women’s economies and those of their families. The high costs of reversing damage that may be done during unsafe abortions must also be taken into account (Pine, 1993; Guzmán, 1998).
5. Exacerbation of social vulnerability. Imprisoning women for having an abortion has terrible consequences for the women and their families. Imprisonment affects the children particularly severely (Casas Becerra, 1996). Women who have had abortions usually experience social stigma and rejection. 
6. Violation of women’s human rights. Criminalizing abortion is against women’s reproductive rights, their rights to health, liberty, and safety, and therefore the right to life itself. Women’s rights to confidentiality and privacy are also violated in extremely restrictive  contexts when health professionals are obliged to break their professional code of secrecy and report women who have received medical attention for complications resulting from abortions (McNaughton et al., 2004). The denial of the right to abortion frequently has adverse consequences for women and the children born to them from unwanted pregnancies. 
7. Complication of information gathering on abortions and therefore the underestimation of the number of abortions (Guillaume, 2004; Blayo, 1998). This also affects the precision and accuracy of information on several aspects of abortions such as the motives, the methods and the consequences of terminating the pregnancy, among other things.

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