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Anti-abortion movements, also self-styled as pro-life or abolitionist movements, are involved in the abortion debate advocating against the practice of
abortion Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. An abortion that occurs without intervention is known as a miscarriage or "spontaneous abortion"; these occur in approximately 30% to 40% of pre ...
and its
legality Legality, in respect of an act, agreement, or contract is the state of being consistent with the law or of being lawful or unlawful in a given jurisdiction, and the construct of power. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, legality is 1 : ...
. Many anti-abortion movements began as countermovements in response to the legalization of elective abortions. Abortion is the ending of a
pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ...
by removal or expulsion of an
embryo An embryo is an initial stage of development of a multicellular organism. In organisms that reproduce sexually, embryonic development is the part of the life cycle that begins just after fertilization of the female egg cell by the male spe ...
or
fetus A fetus or foetus (; plural fetuses, feti, foetuses, or foeti) is the unborn offspring that develops from an animal embryo. Following embryonic development the fetal stage of development takes place. In human prenatal development, fetal dev ...
.


Europe

In
Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
, abortion law varies by country, and has been legalized through parliamentary acts in some countries, and constitutionally banned or heavily restricted in others. In Western Europe this has had the effect at once of both more closely regulating the use of abortion, and at the same time mediating and reducing the impact anti-abortion campaigns have had on the law.


France

The first specifically anti-abortion organization in France, Laissez-les-vivre-SOS futures mères, was created in 1971 during the debate that was to lead to the Veil Law in 1975. Its main spokesman was the geneticist
Jérôme Lejeune Jérôme Jean Louis Marie Lejeune (13 June 1926 – 3 April 1994) was a French pediatrician and geneticist, best known for discovering the link of diseases to chromosome abnormalities, most especially the link between Down Syndrome and trisomy-21 ...
. Since 2005, the French anti-abortion movement has organized an annual
March for Life March for Life may refer to: * March for Life (Washington, D.C.), an annual anti-abortion gathering held in Washington, D.C. * March for Life (Paris), an annual demonstration held in Paris protesting abortion * March for Life (Prague), an annual ...
. The 1920 abortion laws of France have not been entirely repealed leading to ambiguity in the nation's policies. By 1975, Simone Veil, the minister for health, introduced legislation that specifically in cases of distress "tolerated" abortion up to ten weeks. Abortions after this date are only cleared by the government if the pregnancy endangers the health of the woman or will result in the birth of a child with a severe and incurable disease. After twelve weeks, abortion, except for "therapeutic abortion, under the terms of Article 317 of the Criminal Code, is a crime, punishable by 6 months to 10 years in prison, a fine of between 1800 and 250,000 Francs, and loss of professional license." Catholics and right-wing political groups continue to protest abortion. The far-right party National Rally (formerly National Front), has attempted unsuccessfully to decrease funding for abortions.


Ireland

There are several major anti-abortion groups in the Republic of Ireland, including Pro Life Campaign, Youth Defence and the Iona Institute. Despite the 1967 Abortion Act, which was a significant landmark for women in the UK, it did not apply to Northern Ireland. These women either had to travel to the mainland to receive medication or face criminal charges for purchasing abortion pills illegally. The Thirty-sixth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland (2018) provided for legal abortion in Ireland, but several anti-abortion parties still campaign, including Aontú.


Liechtenstein

In
Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...
, an application to legalize abortions was rejected by a slim majority in a referendum in 2011. The opponents, which included Prince Alois, got 500 votes more and eventually settled at 52.3 percent compared with 47.7 percent. Prince Alois had announced the use of his veto in advance if necessary to prevent the introduction of abortion.


Russia

Abortion is legal in Russia as an elective procedure up to the 12th week of pregnancy, and in special circumstances at later stages. The abortion issue gained renewed attention in 2011 in a debate that ''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
'' says "has begun to sound like the debate in the
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
".Sophia Kishkovsky,
Russia Enacts Law Opposing Abortion
''
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...
''
Parliament passed and
President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university * President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
Dmitri Medvedev signed several restrictions on abortion into law to combat "a falling birthrate" and " plunging population". The restrictions include requiring abortion providers to devote 10% of advertising costs to describing the dangers of abortion to a woman's health and make it illegal to describe abortion as a safe medical procedure. Medvedev's wife
Svetlana Medvedeva Svetlana Vladimirovna Medvedeva (russian: Светлана Владимировна Медведева, ; née Linnik, ; born 15 March 1965) is a Russian economist who was the First Lady of Russia from 2008 to 2012. She is married to the forme ...
has taken up the anti-abortion cause in Russia in a weeklong national campaign against abortion called "Give Me Life!" and a "Day of Family, Love and Faithfulness" by her Foundation for Social and Cultural Initiatives in conjunction with the
Russian Orthodox Church , native_name_lang = ru , image = Moscow July 2011-7a.jpg , imagewidth = , alt = , caption = Cathedral of Christ the Saviour in Moscow, Russia , abbreviation = ROC , type ...
.


Spain

In
Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...
, over one million demonstrators took part in a march in
Madrid Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
in October 2009 to protest plans by the government of José Luis Zapatero to legalize elective abortions and eliminate parental consent restrictions.


United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom, the most prominent anti-abortion organization is the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children. It was formed at the time of the passage of the
1967 Abortion Act The Abortion Act 1967 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom legalising abortions on certain grounds by registered practitioners, and regulating the tax-paid provision of such medical practices through the National Health Service (NHS ...
which liberalized abortion law. The group campaigns against abortion, often using questionable claims, and supports protests at pregnancy clinics. The Anti-Abortion Act of 1967 had significant effect in Britain (excluding Northern Ireland). Rather than overturning the existing law, the act states that if at least two doctors deemed the reasons for abortion in alignment with the Act, it could legally be performed. This still meant that the punishment for women who obtained abortions contrary to the act were faced with potential life imprisonment. Doctors too could be prosecuted if they were found administering abortions without reasonable cause. To this day, there are many clinics in the UK that anti-abortion activists routinely stand outside; their goal being to discourage the women entering from having their abortions. This is through two processes known as "prayer vigils" which are sometimes whispered quietly and other times said aloud to actively dissuade, and "pavement counseling" where activists approach entering women to persuade them to continue with their pregnancies. This is a practice held in low regard by women who seek abortions and the organisations providing the service as it has been known to cause anxiety and distress.


Middle East


Israel

In Israel, the major anti-abortion organization is Efrat. Efrat activists primarily raise funds to relieve the "financial and social pressures" on pregnant women so that they will not terminate their pregnancies. However, this activity is only carried out in the Jewish sector in Israeli society, as Efrat officially views abortion among Jews as a demographic threat to the Jewish people.


Americas


United States

The United States anti-abortion movement formed as a response to the landmark 1973 ''
Roe v. Wade ''Roe v. Wade'', 410 U.S. 113 (1973),. was a landmark decision of the U.S. Supreme Court in which the Court ruled that the Constitution of the United States conferred the right to have an abortion. The decision struck down many federal and st ...
'' and '' Doe v. Bolton'' Supreme Court decisions, with many anti-abortion organizations having emerged since then. There is also a smaller
consistent life ethic The consistent life ethic, also known as the consistent ethic of life or whole life ethic, is an ideology that opposes abortion, capital punishment, assisted suicide, and euthanasia. Adherents oppose war, or at the very least, unjust war; some adh ...
movement, favoring a philosophy which opposes all forms of killing, including abortion, war,
euthanasia Euthanasia (from el, εὐθανασία 'good death': εὖ, ''eu'' 'well, good' + θάνατος, ''thanatos'' 'death') is the practice of intentionally ending life to eliminate pain and suffering. Different countries have different eut ...
, and
capital punishment Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that ...
. The current movement is in part a continuation of previous debates on abortion that led to the practice being banned in all states in the late 19th century. The initial movement was led by
physicians A physician (American English), medical practitioner (Commonwealth English), medical doctor, or simply doctor, is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through th ...
, but also included politicians and feminists. Among physicians, advances in medical knowledge played a significant role in influencing anti-abortion opinion. Quickening, which had previously been thought to be the point at which the soul entered a human was discovered to be a relatively unimportant step in fetal development, caused many medical professionals to rethink their positions on early term abortions. Ideologically, the
Hippocratic Oath The Hippocratic Oath is an oath of ethics historically taken by physicians. It is one of the most widely known of Greek medical texts. In its original form, it requires a new physician to swear, by a number of healing gods, to uphold specific e ...
and the medical mentality of that age to defend the value of human life as an absolute also played a significant role in molding opinions about abortion. Meanwhile, many 19th-century feminists tended to regard abortion as an undesirable necessity forced upon women by thoughtless men. The "free love" wing of the feminist movement refused to advocate abortion and treated the practice as an example of the hideous extremes to which modern marriage was driving women. Marital rape and the seduction of unmarried women were societal ills which feminists believed caused the need to abort, as men did not respect women's right to abstinence.
Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being " born again", in which an individual expe ...
organizations like
Focus on the Family Focus on the Family (FOTF or FotF) is a fundamentalist Protestant organization founded in 1977 in Southern California by James Dobson, based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The group is one of a number of evangelical parachurch organizations ...
are involved in anti-abortion movements.


Canada

A Conservative MP,
Cathay Wagantall Cathay Wagantall (née Cathy Caswell; born March 7, 1956) is a Canadian politician who was elected as a Member of Parliament in the House of Commons of Canada to represent the federal electoral riding of Yorkton—Melville during the 2015 Canadi ...
, introduced a bill in 2020 seeking to ban abortions for the purpose of choosing a child's sex. Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy and funded in part by the Canada Health Act. In 2013, the Conservative prime minister,
Stephen Harper Stephen Joseph Harper (born April 30, 1959) is a Canadian politician who served as the 22nd prime minister of Canada from 2006 to 2015. Harper is the first and only prime minister to come from the modern-day Conservative Party of Canada, ...
, barred the members of Parliament from discussing the matter in the Commons. Harper's move was linked to his repeated declarations that he wouldn't allow the abortion debate to be re-opened. Since the 1980s, at least forty-three private member bills that are against abortion have been sent to the House of Commons yet none of them have been passed. Canadian anti-abortion discourse increasingly "aims at changing cultural values more than legislation; is explicitly framed as 'pro-woman'; largely avoids appealing to religious grounds; and relies on a new 'abortion-harms-women' argument that has supplanted and transformed traditional fetal personhood arguments". Since 1998, Catholics and allies have held national anti-abortion March for Life rallies at Parliament Hill. Two have gathered over 10,000 protesters. In addition to the national protests, anti-abortionists protest abortion clinics across the nation in attempts to stop abortions from continuing.


Australia

A number of anti-abortion organizations exist in
Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...
, including Cherish Life,
Right to Life Australia Right to Life Australia is an organisation which advocates consistent life ethic positions in issues such as abortion, euthanasia and stem cell research. Margaret Tighe is the President of Right to Life Australia and Dr Toni Turnbull is Vice Pres ...
, and Australian Christian Lobby. These organizations undertake various campaigning activities, including political campaign fundraising. A large portion of Australian law surrounding abortion was originally derived from the British law. Until 1967, British law stated that "an induced abortion is unlawful in all situations save the (probable) exception of situations where it is necessary to save the life of the mother." Australia partook of this law until Britain changed it in 1967 towards a more liberal standpoint. All states and territories, except Western Australia, have laws prohibiting anti-abortion campaigners from harassing visitors and staff of abortion clinics by setting exclusion zones around abortion clinics.


See also

* ''180'' (2011 American film) * Anti-abortion violence * Crisis pregnancy center *
Fetal rights Fetal rights are the moral rights or legal rights of the human fetus under natural and civil law. The term ''fetal rights'' came into wide usage after ''Roe v. Wade'', the 1973 landmark case that legalized abortion in the United States. The c ...
*
Forced abortion A forced abortion may occur when the perpetrator causes abortion by force, threat or coercion, or by taking advantage of a situation where a pregnant individual is unable to give consent, or when valid consent is in question due to duress. This ma ...
* History of abortion law debate *
Mildred Fay Jefferson Mildred Fay Jefferson (April 6, 1927 – October 15, 2010)
(founder of National Right to Life PAC) * * '' Unplanned'' (anti-abortion movie)


Explanatory notes


References


External links


List of international anti-abortion organizations
{{Authority control Abortion