Norway extends abortion rights to 18 weeks

Oslo: Norway's parliament on Tuesday adopted legislation extending the legal limit for abortion from 12 to 18 weeks in the Scandinavian country.

Legislators voted by a broad majority in favour of a proposal by the centre-left minority government that has been split on the issue.

The new law, which will replace 1978 legislation, will give women until the 18th week of pregnancy to decide whether they want an abortion.

Currently, women in Norway can have an abortion after the 12th week but only with the approval of a medical committee made up two doctors, one male and one female. Refusals are extremely rare.

Supporters of the new legislation called the old system obsolete, conservative and "paternalist", saying the new law allowed "women to decide themselves over their own bodies."

Opponents, including the small Christian Democratic party, argued that late abortions were often linked to foetus viability and abortion therefore amounted to "eliminating the patient" rather than "eliminating the illness".

A majority of lawmakers also voted in favour of giving women up to 18 weeks to decide themselves about reducing the number of foetuses, in the event of a multiple pregnancy.

According to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 83 percent of abortions in Norway in 2023 occurred before the ninth week of pregnancy.

Only 4.7 percent took place after week 12, after receiving approval from a medical committee.

Denmark in May also announced plans to extend the legal abortion limit from 12 to 18 weeks. If adopted, the new rules would come into force on June 1, 2025.

In Western Europe, countries that allow the latest abortions are Britain and the Netherlands at 24 weeks and Iceland at 22 weeks.

phy/po/tw