Abortion Provision: Building on the Gains

2010 has been an interesting year for abortion provision. Early abortion, in the first trimester of pregnancy, is becoming increasingly acceptable and accessible, as reflected by liberalising laws and practice throughout the world. In Spain, much discussion has followed the implementation of a new law allowing abortion without restriction in the first 14 weeks. As Stanley Henshaw of the US Guttmacher Institute told the FIAPAC congress in October, abortion is now generally available for, and used by, about 63% of the world’s population, and is now a right on request (up to varying gestational limits) for 40% of the world’s population.