This morning, you, Scooby and the rest were saying that abortion in Europe is far more restrictive than in any state in the USA.
I don't get it..
Europe’s growing abortion nightmare
In most European Union countries, legal restrictions are already a major hurdle for women who want to terminate a pregnancy, as abortion is regulated in the criminal code.
“Abortions are not legal in Austria,” said Anna Maria Lampert from Changes for Women — a Vienna-based NGO raising funds to help pregnant women get access to safe abortions. In Austria, abortion has been regulated through the criminal code since 1975. “You are exempt from punishment in the first three months of pregnancy if you voluntarily decide to have an abortion. But that doesn’t mean they’re legal,” she said.
“Why is [abortion] in the penal code?” asked Elke Graf, head of the pro:woman ambulatorium in Vienna. “There is no other law that deals with the body of a living being.”
Meanwhile, in Germany, a legally mandatory three-day counseling and cooling-off period further complicates any attempt to get an abortion. “Psychological counseling is an additional burden that makes a difficult situation even worse for women,” said Dr. Cemil Yaman, who heads the Linz-based Institut Gynomed. And in all his years of experience, he said, “not one in 10 women” seeking abortion has doubted her decision.
Furthermore, in Hungary, pregnant women are forced to listen to the heartbeat of the unborn child starting from the first ultrasound, even before deciding whether they might want to have an abortion. And in Poland, which has the strictest legal provisions in the EU by far, abortion is now allowed only in cases of rape, incest or if the pregnancy endangers the mother’s life.