The Survey looks at the relevant legislation on abortion care in 42countries, but crucially it also explores how these laws are interpreted byproviders and experienced by women and girls. It is designed to provide anoverview of women’s and girls’ experience around accessing abortion care, tohighlight current threats to their reproductive health and rights, to identify‘best-fit’ practices and to stimulate further debate and research.
The Survey is not a research paper, but rather a synthesis of theexpertise and understanding ofour Members and Partners working in thefield and serving women every day. It begins by situating abortion care as anessential component of women’s reproductive health, as defined within thebroader framework of international human rights law, specifically the Right tothe Highest Attainable Standard of Physical and Mental Health. It then examinesto what extent current provision within national borders aligns with ordeviates from state obligations to care for and value equally women and girls.It covers four key areas: the criminalisation of abortion; the various groundsavailable to women and girls to access abortion care and the time limitsimposed thereon; the additional institutional and procedural hurdles toabortion care; and finally, the significant financial burden inflicted on womenand girls when accessing care across the region.
For each section, the ‘best’ and ‘worst’ country scenarios have beenreferenced to highlight how differently a particular barrier to care might beimplemented and then experienced by women and girls across Europe and CentralAsia.
[En français:]
L’enquête examine la législation surl’avortement dans 42 pays, mais elle explore l’interprétation des lois par lesprestataires et le vécu des femmes. Elle met en évidence les menaces actuellessur leur santé et leurs droits, pour identifier les pratiques les plus adaptéeset pour stimuler de nouveaux débats et recherches. Elle couvre quatre domaines:la criminalisation de l’avortement; les différents motifs pour son obtention etles délais imposés; les obstacles institutionnels et procéduraux et la chargefinancière pour les femmes.
FULL REPORT, December 2019