Abortion In Sweden
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Abortion in Sweden was first legislated by the Abortion Act of 1938.
Official Statistics of Sweden: Statistics – Health and Medical Care: Induced abortions 2009
'' (2010) National Board of Health and Welfare. .
This stated that an
abortion Abortion is the early termination of a pregnancy by removal or expulsion of an embryo or fetus. Abortions that occur without intervention are known as miscarriages or "spontaneous abortions", and occur in roughly 30–40% of all pregnan ...
could be legally performed in
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
upon
medical Medicine is the science and Praxis (process), practice of caring for patients, managing the Medical diagnosis, diagnosis, prognosis, Preventive medicine, prevention, therapy, treatment, Palliative care, palliation of their injury or disease, ...
,
humanitarian Humanitarianism is an ideology centered on the value of human life, whereby humans practice benevolent treatment and provide assistance to other humans to reduce suffering and improve the conditions of humanity for moral, altruistic, and emotiona ...
, or eugenical grounds. That is, if the
pregnancy Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring gestation, gestates inside a woman's uterus. A multiple birth, multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Conception (biology), Conception usually occurs ...
constituted a serious threat to the woman's life, if she had been impregnated by
rape Rape is a type of sexual assault involving sexual intercourse, or other forms of sexual penetration, carried out against a person without consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or against a person ...
, or if there was a considerable chance that any serious condition might be inherited by her child, she could request an abortion. The law was later augmented in 1946 to include socio-medical grounds and again in 1963 to include the risk of serious fetal damage. A committee investigated whether these conditions were met in each individual case and, as a result of this prolonged process, abortion was often not granted until the middle of the second trimester. As such, a new law was created in 1974, stating that the choice of an abortion is entirely up to the woman until the end of the 18th week.


Legislation


Current

The current legislation is the Abortion Act of 1974 ( SFS 1974:595). This states that up until the end of the eighteenth week of the pregnancy, the choice of an abortion is entirely up to the woman, for any reason whatsoever. After the 18th, a woman needs a permission from the National Board of Health and Welfare (''Socialstyrelsen'') to have an abortion. Permission for these late abortions is usually granted for cases in which the fetus or mother are unhealthy. Abortion is not allowed if the fetus is viable, which generally means that abortions after the 22nd week are not allowed. However, abortions after the 22nd week may be allowed in the rare cases where the fetus can not survive outside the womb even if it is carried to term. The issue is largely settled in Sweden, and the question of the legality of abortion is not a highly controversial political issue. Consensus in Sweden is in favour of preventing unwanted pregnancies by the use of
birth control Birth control, also known as contraception, anticonception, and fertility control, is the use of methods or devices to prevent pregnancy. Birth control has been used since ancient times, but effective and safe methods of birth control only be ...
and the primary goal is not to lower the number of abortions, but rather the goal is that all children that are born should be wanted. The number of abortions statistically follows the number of pregnancies. In comparison with the other
nordic countries The Nordic countries (also known as the Nordics or ''Norden''; ) are a geographical and cultural region in Northern Europe, as well as the Arctic Ocean, Arctic and Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic oceans. It includes the sovereign states of Denm ...
, Sweden ranks high in number of abortions, and low in number of young parents, while the number of pregnancies in relation to total population is largely the same in all Nordic countries.


History

The
Civil Code of 1734 The Civil Code of 1734 ( Swedish: ''1734 års lag''), was a code of law passed by the Swedish Riksdag of the Estates in 1734, and put in effect after it had been ratified by Frederick I of Sweden 23 January 1736. It became the foundation of the lat ...
formally introduced the death penalty for abortion, but there is no confirmed case in which this sentence was actually carried out: the attention was focused on
infanticide Infanticide (or infant homicide) is the intentional killing of infants or offspring. Infanticide was a widespread practice throughout human history that was mainly used to dispose of unwanted children, its main purpose being the prevention of re ...
rather than abortion, and the court cases were few.Sverige. Utredningen om utländska aborter, Abort i Sverige: betänkande, Fritze, Stockholm, 2005 http://www.regeringen.se/rattsdokument/statens-offentliga-utredningar/2005/11/sou-200590/ The reformed law of 1864 abolished the death penalty for abortion and replaced it with between two and six years of
penal labour Penal labour is a term for various kinds of forced labour that prisoners are required to perform, typically manual labour. The work may be light or hard, depending on the context. Forms of sentence involving penal labour have included in ...
for both the patient who received the abortion, as well as for the abortion provider. During the second half of the 19th century, abortion court cases became more common and the issue became a part of public debate. A reform in 1921 replaced the penal labour with fines or a shorter prison term without penal labour for the patient, but kept the original penalty for the abortion service provider. Between 1929 and 1933, around 21 patients annually were sentenced for abortion, and the vast majority was given suspended sentences. The first law on legal abortions was passed in Sweden in 1938 when the law legalized abortion on a very limited scale, and only on serious medical consideration, eugenical grounds or rape, after evaluation by the Royal Board of Health. From 1946 abortions could also be permitted on social medicinal grounds. During the 1960s, a successive change in Swedish society took place, and the general attitude towards
sexuality Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
, as well as abortion, became more liberal. This, among other things, led to an increase in the number of permitted abortions. The current Abortion Act (SFS 1974:595 with later amendments in 1995 and 2007) entered into force on 1 January 1975. It permits abortion on the request of the pregnant woman until the 18th week, and thereafter only in cases of severe indications of medical risk. After the 18th week, abortions can only be performed after an evaluation by the National Board of Health and Welfare. In 1989, the Board issued general advice on implementation of the law (SOSFS 1989:6). From 1 September 2004, these were superseded by new advice and policy (SOSFS 2004:4). Since 1 January 2008, foreign patients – including
asylum Asylum may refer to: Types of asylum * Asylum (antiquity), places of refuge in ancient Greece and Rome * Benevolent asylum, a 19th-century Australian institution for housing the destitute * Cities of Refuge, places of refuge in ancient Judea * ...
applicants, non-permanent residents, and those not
registered Registered may refer to: * Registered mail, letters, packets or other postal documents considered valuable and in need of a chain of custody * Registered trademark symbol, symbol ® that provides notice that the preceding is a trademark or service ...
in Sweden – are allowed to get an abortion in the country. During 2009, 132 such abortions were performed in Sweden. The National Board of Health and Welfare called this a comparably small figure, in relation to the total number of abortions.


Statistics

The National Board of Health and Welfare is the central national authority for social services, public health, and the health services in Sweden. Among the board's responsibilities are evaluation and monitoring of abortions performed in Sweden, as well as establishing norms by issuing provisions and general advice. The board is also responsible for the collection and publishing of official national statistics on abortions. Until 1995 reports were instead published by
Statistics Sweden Statistics Sweden ( ; SCB, ) is the Swedish government agency operating under the Ministry of Finance and responsible for producing official statistics for decision-making, debate and research. The agency's responsibilities include: * developin ...
. Statistical reports are published yearly and are based on data from all clinics and hospitals where abortions are performed. Data is collected on the age of the women, earlier pregnancies and abortions, the length of the pregnancy at the time of abortion, method of abortion, and where the abortion was performed. One of the National Health Board's main purposes with these reports is to measure changes and trends over time. The statistics on legal abortions stretches back to 1955 and, starting from 1975, data on frequencies for different age groups are available. From 1985 the women's home
municipality A municipality is usually a single administrative division having municipal corporation, corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate. The term ''municipality' ...
was also recorded.


Trends

The number of induced abortions performed in Sweden rose markedly on a yearly basis from the early 1960s, but soon leveled off following the liberalization of the abortion law in 1975. It is not possible to tell whether the increase in the statistics after the Abortion Act of 1974 reflects actual circumstances, or just
bias Bias is a disproportionate weight ''in favor of'' or ''against'' an idea or thing, usually in a way that is inaccurate, closed-minded, prejudicial, or unfair. Biases can be innate or learned. People may develop biases for or against an individ ...
resulting from an increased will to report abortions after legalization. Since 1975, the total yearly number of cases has averaged between 30,000 and 38,000 abortions. The number of abortions by age group were as follows: those performed on teenagers in 1975 were 30 in every 1,000, while those performed on women aged 20 to 24 years old was 27 in every 1,000. However, since 1977, the opposite has held true, with fewer abortions being performed on teenagers than women aged 20 to 24. The number of abortions among teenagers was around 11 per 1,000 women in 2018, a halving since 2009. Most abortions in Sweden are performed on women aged 25–29 years old, followed in order by the age groups 20–24 years old, 30–34 years old, 35–39 years old, 15–19 years old (teenage abortions), and 40–44 years old. Before the age of thirty most women have not established a family life and abortion is more common amongst this age group, with
multiple sex partners Multiple sex partners (MSP) is the measure and incidence of engaging in sexual activities with two or more people within a specific time period. Sexual activity with MSP can happen simultaneously or serially. MSP includes sexual activity between p ...
in the younger age groups parenthood is less desired and abortion more likely. The fact that most women in the younger age groups are still studying, combined with them being new on the labour market, influences the choice to perform abortion. Although abortion rates vary widely in Sweden, according to geographical region, the highest rate of teenage abortions is registered in
Gotland Gotland (; ; ''Gutland'' in Gutnish), also historically spelled Gottland or Gothland (), is Sweden's largest island. It is also a Provinces of Sweden, province/Counties of Sweden, county (Swedish län), Municipalities of Sweden, municipality, a ...
and in the metropolitan areas of
Stockholm Stockholm (; ) is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in Sweden by population, most populous city of Sweden, as well as the List of urban areas in the Nordic countries, largest urban area in the Nordic countries. Approximately ...
and
Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
. The lowest incidences are in the
counties A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
of
Blekinge Blekinge () is one of the traditional Swedish provinces (), situated in the southern coast of the geographic region of Götaland, in southern Sweden. It borders Småland, Scania and the Baltic Sea. It is the country's second-smallest provin ...
,
Kronoberg Kronoberg County (; ) is a county or ''län'' in southern Sweden. Kronoberg is one of three counties in the province of Småland. It borders the counties of Skåne, Halland, Jönköping, Kalmar, and Blekinge. Its capital is the city of Växjö. ...
, and
Jönköping Jönköping (, ) is a Urban areas in Sweden, city in southern Sweden with 112,766 inhabitants (2022). Jönköping is situated on the southern shore of Sweden's second largest lake, Vättern, in the province of Småland. The city is the seat o ...
. In 2018, 84 percent of the induced abortions were performed before the end of the 9th week of pregnancy and 57 percent before the end of the 7th week, compared to 55 and 10 percent respectively in 1994. The proportion of medical abortions constituted 93 percent of all abortions.


Debate

Sweden has one of the most liberal abortion laws in the world. The topic itself does not have much controversy among the society and majority of Swedish population supports the law and policies around it. A 2024 report by
Pew Research Center The Pew Research Center (also simply known as Pew) is a nonpartisan American think tank based in Washington, D.C. It provides information on social issues, public opinion, and demographic trends shaping the United States and the world. It ...
revealed that 95% of Swedish adults believed that abortion should be legal in all or most cases. However, there are political debates surrounding the cut-off period for abortion as well as other abortion rights. Right-wing conservative parties like the Christian Democrats and
Swedish Democrats The Sweden Democrats ( , SD ) is a nationalist and right-wing populist political party in Sweden founded in 1988. As of 2024, it is the largest member of Sweden's right-wing bloc and the second-largest party in the Riksdag. It provides confidenc ...
have earlier promoted a stricter ban on late abortions, but do no longer do so. The
Swedish Association for Sexuality Education The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education () is a Swedish nonprofit organization that works with public opinion formation on sexual and reproductive health. It also works with rights, as well as information and education about sexuality and ...
has responded by stating that a lot of political arguments stem from misinformation and lack of knowledge.


Abortion rights


Organizations

RFSU stands for abortion rights to all women, it is one of their main worldwide priority areas. They believe that in an equal and sustainable society individuals have a right over their own body, sexuality and reproduction.


Anti-abortion


Organizations

(MRO, Human rights for the unborn) is a politically and religiously independent organization. They aim to promote right to life for those unborn by non-violent protests, showing pictures of fetuses, and supporting pregnant women. (Yes to life) is a non-profit organization which aims to influence the debate on human dignity within abortion, fetal diagnoses and elderly care. Their goal is to limit the abortions by showing that fetuses have a human value. Some religious organizations have anti-abortion stand too. The Catholic Church believes that human life is created at the point of conception, thus abortion should not be permitted unless both mother and the child are in danger. A Catholic movement, (Respect), aims to promote human life from conception to death, meaning that, among other positions, they stand against abortions and euthanasia.


Ellinor Grimmark

In 2014, a controversial lawsuit was launched by midwife Ellinor Grimmark against the health authorities in Jönköping region because they refused to provide her with a job as she would not carry out abortions or prescribe contraceptives due to her religious beliefs. The case had financial support from a well-known Christian anti-abortion organisation in the US,
Alliance Defending Freedom The Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF), formerly the Alliance Defense Fund, is an American conservative Christian legal advocacy group that works to expand Christian religious practices within public schools and in government. ADF is most known ...
, which has interests in limiting abortion access in Europe. Grimmark's case was tried by the discrimination ombudsman as well as a district court in Sweden, both of which ruled against her. The same decision was reached in the Swedish Labor court after which Grimmark decided to proceed to the
European Court of Human Rights The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), also known as the Strasbourg Court, is an international court of the Council of Europe which interprets the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). The court hears applications alleging that a co ...
. In 2020, she lost her case against Swedish state, and in October 2021, the case was permanently closed when her motion for appeal was denied.


See also

*
Swedish Association for Sexuality Education The Swedish Association for Sexuality Education () is a Swedish nonprofit organization that works with public opinion formation on sexual and reproductive health. It also works with rights, as well as information and education about sexuality and ...


Notes


References


External links


Swedish Parliament – Abortion act
{{DEFAULTSORT:Abortion In Sweden Abortion in Sweden 1938 establishments in Sweden
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
Health law in Sweden Society of Sweden
Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...
Women's rights in Sweden