The struggle to protect unborn children remains a global one even as the United States just passed the 29th anniversary of its legalization of abortion.
The U.S. Supreme Court, in effect, struck down all restrictions on abortion Jan. 22, 1973. While American pro-life advocates have been focused on rescinding abortion’s status as a legal procedure at all times and for all reasons in their country, the battle over unborn children has also raged internationally.
The global map forms a patchwork quilt regarding abortion. Ninety-seven countries constituting about 66 percent of the world’s population have laws permitting, in essence, abortion on demand, according to Human Life International’s (HLI) Web site. Ninety-three countries with about 34 percent of the world’s population prohibit abortion or allow such exceptions as to protect the mother’s life or for reasons of rape and fetal deformity, HLI reports. About 55 million surgical abortions are performed each year worldwide, according to HLI.
In addition to surgical abortions, young human life also is at risk globally because of abortion-inducing drugs, cloning and stem cell research.
Recent public policy developments regarding the status of unborn babies in other countries include:
China codified its one child policy for the first time by a vote of its Legislature.
The French government legalized the free distribution by pharmacies of the “morning after pill” to girls under 18 without parental consent or a prescription.
France’s National Assembly, however, approved a bill restricting a court decision that found a handicapped child could be compensated because he was not aborted, the Associated Press report.
The government of the Philippines outlawed the “morning after pill” because of its abortifacient qualities, according to CNSNews.com.
Abortion has been legalized in Afghanistan through the third month of pregnancy if a woman’s health is threatened. A woman must obtain certificates from three doctors and permission from the Health Ministry to have an abortion, according to the South African Press Association.
Embryonic research
In the field of embryo research, foreign entities largely have refused to move in the direction of protecting young human life. Great Britain adopted a revised law that prohibits cloning to produce a baby but permits the procedure for research purposes. The Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament, approved on first reading a five-year ban on reproductive cloning but did not prohibit research cloning, the Associated Press reported.
In addition, the parliament of the European Union recently rejected a bill that would have prohibited all human cloning, according to the British Broadcasting Corp.
(BP)
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