Abortion Distortion
Why Not Everything in the World is Done the Way the USA Does It
Americans have the quaint notion that everything here is like the rest of the world. That’s not nearly true for anything, and especially for abortion.
In the United States, the Roe v. Wade court case that was decided by the Supreme Court was not about abortion at all, at least not directly. It impacted abortion, but the ruling was technically about privacy, and in some legal pretzel-twisting maneuvers, Roe v. Wade decided that states could not impose laws on people that would in any way limit abortions. In other words, abortion was between a woman and her physician only, and states had no authority to intervene one way or the other.
From a Constitutional standpoint, this was on very thin ice. The Constitution as a document limits federal power and authority. In fact, the Constitution says that unless a right or authority is specifically named in the Constitution—the legal word they use is “enumerated”—then that right or authority defaults to the state. Nowhere in the Constitution does it mention abortion or pregnancy or even medical care, healthcare, or public health. So interpreting the Constitution appropriately would mean that we have to recognize that abortion—being something related to medical care— is a decision for states to make.
Roe v. Wade said, no, the federal government could step in so that no state could limit abortion.
Despite the pro-choice movement and the shrill howls of the Democrat party, abortion is not now nor has it ever been a right. Rights, according to the Constitution, are spelled out and are given by God. We have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We have a bill of rights that does not allow the government to infringe on our freedom of speech, among other things. But abortion is not a right any more than driving is a right or going to college is a right or being allowed to drive 80 miles an hour in a school zone is a right.
How did the Supreme Court arrive at the decision that abortion, although not enumerated, was a federal matter? Well, it all starts with volition—it’s what they wanted. So in order to get it, they twisted the law to give it to them. If you ever want to give yourself a migraine, read their opinions on the “emanations of the penumbra.” They claim that people have a Constitutional right to privacy (the shadow of which is the “penumbra”) and certain things just flow out of the penumbra like stink lines on a cartoon skunk. (See below—the emanations of the penumbra would be the green lines and the skunk is the penumbra of privacy.) The argument was that people have a right to privacy, which means that they can make private decisions that no state may interfere with.
Of course, that’s not even a stretch, it’s stupid. First of all, an American citizen cannot just make any decision to do anything with a physician. You cannot sell one of your kidneys or buy a kidney to be implanted. You cannot give blood two days in a row. You cannot take certain drugs, like heroin or tranq. You cannot get six COVID boosters in one day. Although parents have authority and certain rights over their children, they cannot have their children euthanized. It would be difficult to get a physician to amputate a healthy leg if you just thought it would be fun to have a peg leg. The penumbra of privacy, if it even exists, would not extend to allowing anyone to do anything they wanted to their body. One of my most prized conspiracy theories is that I believe Ruth Bader Ginsberg always knew this—she knew she was making the wrong legal decision—but she wanted abortion so badly, she was willing to juke the system. There are some Supreme Court justices who feel the Constitution is not an actual document but a “living” document and can be bent and stretched and manipulated to suit the times.
The recent Dobbs vs. Jackson Supreme Court decision does not repeal abortion. It does not make abortion legal, illegal, restricted, unrestricted, or anything else. It only goes back to rectify the initial error: abortion is a matter for states to decide. States can allow unrestricted abortion, they can ban abortion completely, or they can allow abortion with certain limitations. The only thing is, this is a state-by-state decision. All the outcry about Dobbs outlawing abortion is nonsense.
For example, it is doubtful California’s laws about abortion will change at all—abortion will remain virtually unrestricted there. I suspect Illinois and New York will keep their current policies about abortion in place. No change. However, some other states may reach different decisions. It is funny but the crowd that screams the most about Trump putting an end to democracy sure gets upset when citizens actually get to vote.
I have observed that Americans, particularly Democrats, have the curious notion that because they like unrestricted abortion, that’s how the rest of the world does it.
Fat chance.
In Chile, Mexico, and Brazil, abortion is only allowed to save the life of the mother. (By the way, in the United States, abortion is permitted if the mother’s life is jeopardized by the pregnancy—such a case is not considered the same as an elective abortion. It’s called the “health exception” in legalese). In the Congo, Egypt, and the Dominican Republic, abortion is not permitted for any reason, even if the mother’s life is in danger by carrying the baby.
In Germany, a woman seeking an abortion must attend a special class, sort of like “traffic school” but on birth control. The Germans take the position that abortions should not be a substitute for birth control and women seeking abortions need education on contraception. The course takes a week and a certificate of completion is awarded after the participant passes a test. Upon successful completion of the course, the woman takes the certificate to a state-approved medical center to get on the waiting list to receive an abortion. There is usually a waiting period imposed to give the pregnant person a little more time to think things over; however abortions must be performed within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Those who do not get the certificate from birth-control school or try to get an abortion after 12 weeks are subject to up to three years in prison. Furthermore, Germany also has laws that prohibit abortion centers or specialty clinics from advertising. Germany has an ever-decreasing abortion rate; it dropped 5% just from 2020 to 2021.
Neighboring France allows abortion up to 14 weeks, although two or more physicians may request an exception, allowing an abortion be performed after that under specific and serious circumstances, typically an incurable or severe illness identified in the fetus. Up until 2015, France also had a mandatory seven-day cooling-off period; a woman could request an abortion but had to wait seven days before the procedure. That has fallen by the wayside, but today no legal abortion in France can be performed without at least two medical consultations prior to the procedure.
In Northern Ireland, abortion is legal for any reason up to 12 weeks. In the United Kingdom, abortions are legal up to 24 weeks. Most abortions are performed for the sake of the mental health of the mother and/or her other children, and it is legal to abort a handicapped child because it is handicapped.
Abortion is legal in Vatican City only in cases of ectopic pregnancy or cancer or other situations where pregnancy puts the woman’s life in jeopardy. But this is hardly a matter of controversy, since only 32 females live in Vatican City and some of them are nuns.
In Italy, abortion is restricted to the first 90 days of pregnancy (a little over 12 weeks) and can be permitted for social, economic, or health reasons. Italian abortions are free. Abortion in the second trimester of pregnancy can only be considered in cases of serious fetal malformation or special circumstances. Italy imposes a seven-day waiting period between the request for an abortion and the time at which it can be performed. Unlike other countries, Italy has something called “anonymous childbirth.” A woman can give birth and remain permanently anonymous (and the father as well), leaving the child at the hospital to be adopted.
Most Americans think abortion is routine practice in China, because back in 1953, China was one of the first nations on earth to make abortion widely available to its citizens. (For a frame of reference, birth control for married couples was not made legal in the United States until 1965 and it took until 1972 for birth control to be accessible to nonmarried people.) Communist China maintains that life begins at birth, so the issues of taking a human life do not come up. As a result of this attitude, China has very high rates of abortion (about 5 out of every 100 pregnancies are aborted compared to 2.8 out of every 100 in the United States). During the era when China rigorously enforced its one-child policy, many women were compelled to abort babies they wanted to deliver. Sex-selective abortions (aborting children who were not the desired sex, almost always girls) were also common. These two disastrous policies have caused many Chinese today to question the validity and value of abortion. Further, stringent policies compelling minorities in China to undergo abortions and forced abortions during the “one-child policy” era have also tainted abortion policies in the minds of many Chinese. Of course, some of the backlash may be due to the fact that China is now experiencing what some say will soon be a demographic collapse: an aging population with far more men than women. China is now talking about restrictions on abortion but the intention is to boost the population numbers and establish sex equality, not to preserve life.
On the other hand, abortion is not only legal in Japan, it is not fraught with any moral stigma or religious concern. Japan puts a very late 22-week limit on legal abortions which can be granted for rape, medical, or economic reasons. However, in Japan a married woman may only obtain an abortion with consent from her husband (this does not apply to unmarried women who do not need consent from the baby’s father). Ten other countries besides Japan require spousal consent to abortion, something the United States does not. The biggest limiting factor in Japan is that abortions are not covered by any health insurance and can be extremely expensive.
Australia has no national laws that in any way restrict abortion, so abortions are by default legal at any stage in the pregnancy. In Australia, the baby’s father has no right to stop an abortion, but the law requires that he be notified. Minors do not need parental consent to get an abortion. Depending on the state or territory, abortion may be partially or fully covered by health insurance. New Zealand allows abortion in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy for any reason, but requires approval from at least one healthcare provider after 20 weeks.
India legalized abortion in 1971 with its Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, recently expanded to allow abortion in the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. (In many cases, a 24-week-old fetus is viable.) Before 1971, abortion was consider a crime except for instances where the pregnancy put the mother’s health at risk. Nearby Pakistan has one of the world’s highest abortion rates although its official policy is against abortion and its laws are extremely vague to nonexistent.
While most of Latin America imposes some types of restrictions on abortion, Cuba has free, legal abortion on request. However, in Cuba a woman who wants an abortion after 10 weeks of pregnancy must undergo a formal clinical evaluation prior to the procedure. In Argentina, abortions were up until very recently permitted only in cases of rape or when the mother’s health was at risk, but in 2020, the laws changed and allow abortion up to 14 weeks. Uruguay, known for its very liberal drug laws, allows abortion for any reason up to 12 weeks providing there is a 5-day “period of reflection” before the procedure. In nearby Bolivia, abortion is mostly illegal except in cases of rape, incest, or to protect the mother’s health. In 2017, Bolivia made a law offering an exception, allowing young women (generally defined as those under 17 years of age) to get an abortion up to 12 weeks, but that law was repealed in 2018.
Saudi Arabia, on the other hand, greatly restricts abortion. It must be done in the first four months of pregnancy and the only acceptable reasons are maternal health (physical or mental), an impaired fetus, or pregnancies resulting from rape or incest. A woman seeking an abortion must get approval from three physicians and consent from her spouse or partner. If a physician or other person performs an abortion on a woman and it is found out she did not meet these criteria, the provider has to pay the woman’s family “blood money” for the taking of the unborn child’s life. This is sort of puzzling, since the law recognizes abortion as “taking a life” yet allows it in certain circumstances.
Abortion is mostly illegal in Palestine although exceptions can be made in cases where the mother’s health is in jeopardy. However, abortion is accessible and legal in nearby Israel and it is provided free of cost to women between the ages of 20 to 33 of any nationality. Israel requires that a woman apply to get an abortion, but the three-person panel who approves these procedures has a track record of granting 98% of all applications. The Israeli program is being expanded gradually with the goal of making abortions for free for all ages. Although it is hard to get numerical data, it is likely that Palestinian women seeking abortion ,might turn to Israel. Palestinian women who do get abortions may face up to three years in prison; abortion in the case of rape or incest can draw a one year prison term in Palestine.
Abortion in Africa is subject to a variety of laws ranging from nations that prohibit abortion entirely (such as Angola, Egypt, Madagascar, and others) to those with no restrictions (South Africa, Tunisia) and countries with some degree of restriction (Nigeria, Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Ghana and others).
And finally, comes Canada. Curiously, that bastion of frozen socialism to the north has no laws that establish any sort of “rights” to abortion. Abortion as a medical procedure was a crime in Canada up until 1988. Abortion was then decriminalized but the laws are very vague. Canada is perceived by itself and others to be “abortion friendly,” because they have few laws in place to restrict it. The problem with getting an abortion in Canada is not legality, it’s access to healthcare. With long waiting lists and limited access to medical services, particularly in rural regions, many seeking abortions have their babies before their numbers come up on the waiting list.
The American notion that unrestricted abortion is some kind of human right is simply not borne out by looking at how other countries handle abortion. Many nations impose a period of reflection; Germany wants to formally educate abortion-seekers about contraception, seeing abortion as the terrible consequences from a lack of knowledge. More nations than America would imagine prohibit abortion and most impose considerable restrictions.