The Danish government has announced that the country will relax abortion laws for the first time in 50 years. Now women will be allowed to terminate a pregnancy up to the 18th week — previously it was only allowed up to the 12th. The changes are expected to take effect from June 2025.
The Associated Press agency writes about it.
The law will also be changed to allow minor girls aged 15 to 17 to have an abortion without parental consent.
Free abortions were introduced in Denmark in 1973. Since at that time pregnancy was terminated exclusively by surgery, restrictions were set for abortions — it could only be done up to the 12th week of pregnancy, because later there was a greater risk of complications from the operation.
"It is about the individual freedom of a woman, about the right to dispose of her own body and her own life. This is a historic day for womenʼs equality," said Minister for Gender Equality Marie Bjerre of Denmark.
The three-party centrist government agreed to loosen abortion laws with two left-wing groups, the Socialist Peopleʼs Party and the Red-Green Alliance, and two centrist parties, the Social Liberals and Alternative. The decision still needs to be voted on in the parliament, but they believe that the initiative will be adopted.
According to the Danish Health Data Authority, the total number of abortions in Denmark has remained stable in recent years. In 2022, 14,700 medical abortions were performed against 14,500 in 2017. The peak was in 1975, when 27,900 abortions were performed.
- In March 2024, France enshrined the right to abortion in the Constitution — the first in the world.
- And the legislators of the American state of Arizona voted to repeal the 1864 law on the almost complete ban on abortion. Lawmakers restored womenʼs right to abortion before 15 weeks of pregnancy.