abortion

abortion The premature termination of pregnancy by removal of the foetus from the womb. It has been strongly opposed by many religions which emphasize the sanctity of human life from the day of conception. By contrast, its legalization has been demanded by ‘pro-choice’ groups which stress each individual mother's right to choose whether or not to proceed with a pregnancy. As a result, the issue of abortion has become a touchstone for the influence of religion in the state. Abortion is still illegal in Arab countries, where Islam is the state religion, and in Ireland, where the influence of the Roman Catholic Church is still strong.

The issue has been particularly divisive where the relationship between religion and the state has been ambiguous, if not in theory, then in practice. It is a central and divisive matter in countries such as Poland, which has sought to redefine the role of the Catholic Church in state and society. In Germany, in 1995, five years after reunification, laws were drawn up which amounted to a compromise between a more religiously observant western half and a completely secularized eastern half. In the USA a Supreme Court judgment, Roe v. Wade of 1973, ruled in favour of a ‘right to choose’ as an implied constitutional ‘right to privacy’. However, the problem has continued to polarize society between Roman Catholics and fundamentalist Christians on the one hand and ‘pro-choice’ groups on the other. As the former groups have become increasingly influential in the Republican Party, and the latter have been largely reliant on the Democratic Party for the defence of the present system, abortion has become a central issue in US politics.

By contrast, in more secularized societies the subject causes only sporadic controversy. Within the European Union, Spain, Portugal, and Ireland do not allow abortion unless the mother's health is at risk. Apart from that, most EU countries allow abortion for up to 12–14 weeks after conception. In the Netherlands, abortion is legal for up to 24 weeks after conception, and in Britain, abortion has been allowed for up to 24 weeks after conception (reduced from 28 in 1990) on social or medical grounds.