Abortion in Saudi Arabia

Saudi Arabia has more permissive abortion laws compared to other countries of the Middle East and North Africa region, according to the US-based Centre for Reproductive Studies.[1] Abortion is legal in cases of risk to a woman’s life, fetal impairment, or to protect her physical and mental health.[2][3] Pregnancy arising from incest or rape also qualify for a legal abortion under the mental health exemption [3][4] The fetus must be less than four months old, and if longer, requires a panel of approved specialists to declare that the pregnancy will result in the death of the woman or serious damage to her health.[5] Any approved abortion requires consent from three physicians as well as the patient and her partner.[6] If an abortion is performed on a woman for any other reason, the violator may be required to pay blood money to the unborn child's family.[6] Laws explicitly deny abortion to families who fear financial instability or an inability to provide the child with education.[6] The selling of pills which are used for the process of abortion is illegal and has resulted in arrest.[7]

References
  1. "Greater abortion access in Saudi Arabia than in over ten US states after Roe v Wade repeal". The New Arab. 25 June 2022. p. 2. Retrieved 26 June 2022.
  2. Maffi, I., & Tønnessen, L. (2019). The Limits of the Law: Abortion in the Middle East and North Africa. Health and Human Rights, 21(2), 1–6.
  3. Livni, Ephrat. "Saudi Arabia's abortion laws are more forgiving than Alabama's". Quartz. Retrieved 2019-06-25.
  4. Boston, 677 Huntington Avenue; Ma 02115 +1495‑1000 (2019-12-09). "EDITORIAL The Limits of the Law: Abortion in the Middle East and North Africa". Health and Human Rights. Retrieved 2021-09-12.
  5. Toebes, Brigit; Ferguson, Rhonda; Markovic, Milan M.; Nnamuchi, Obiajulu (2014-09-05). The Right to Health: A Multi-Country Study of Law, Policy and Practice. Springer. ISBN 9789462650145.
  6. Abortion Policies: Oman to Zimbabwe (PDF). United Nations Publications. 2002. ISBN 9211513650. Retrieved 10 May 2022.
  7. "Man arrested for selling abortion pills in Saudi Arabia, triggering debate". www.msn.com. Retrieved 2019-06-25.


This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.