Prosecutorial Discretion for Self-Managed Abortion Helpers

Elected prosecutors have pledged not to enforce abortion laws, in response to state-level abortion bans. For their pledges to be meaningful, prosecutors must exercise their discretion in cases of individuals who face legal risk, including people who help others self-manage their abortions. With a harm-reduction approach to improving abortion access, prosecutors should aim to reduce abortion helpers' involvement with the criminal justice system.

Law No. 572, 12 July 1985

This Law amends Law No. 239 of 24 March 1970 on the termination of pregnancy. It introduces the following new Section 5a: "Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 5, the National Board of Health may authorize the termination of a pregnancy if, as a result of amniocentesis or an ultrasonic examination, serological tests, or another reliable examination, it is established that the embryo is affected by a serious disease or physical disability, provided that the 24th week of pregnancy has not expired."

Canada. Saskatchewan. Court of Appeal. Borowski v. Attorney General of Canada, 30 April 1987

The Court upheld the decision of a lower court that provisions of the Criminal Code providing that abortions may be authorized by therapeutic abortion committees do not violate sections of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It ruled that a fetus is not included within the terms "everyone" or "every individual" and thus not entitled to the rights conferred on born persons. It based its ruling on the status of the fetus historically under common law and its status under present-day law in the United States and the European Economic Community. It also pointed to legislative history indicating that the Charter was intended to be neutral with respect to abortion and the rights of the fetus.

Judgment, 15 January 1987

The Supreme Administrative Court upheld the decision of a lower court that the refusal of the state of Baden-Wurttemberg to allow physicians to perform abortions in private clinics was lawful. It ruled that the state was not required to recognize a private clinic as an "institution" for the performance of abortions under Article 3, Paragraph 1, of the Fifth Amendment of the Criminal Code (provisions on abortion). It also concluded that such a refusal did not violate the right to exercise one's profession contained in the Constitution.

United Kingdom. High Court. Queen's Bench Division. Regina v. Salford Health Authority, Ex Parte Janaway, 12 February 1987

The applicant was a receptionist for a health centre who refused to type letters for physicians referring patients for abortions. She challenged her dismissal by the health centre, arguing that she was legally authorized to refuse to type abortion referral letters by Section 4(1) of the Abortion Act 1967, which provides that no person may be required to "participate in any treatment authorized by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection." The Court rejected her argument, holding that the treatment to which the Act referred was medical treatment related to abortion and that she had no part in such treatment.

Preventable factors in abortion-related maternal mortality in Africa: focus on abortion deaths in Benin City, Nigeria

In a 13-year review of maternal deaths of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital, Benin City, abortion was one of the 3 major causes of death, accounting for 37 (22.4) out of 165 deaths. Induced abortion was responsible for 34 (91.9%) of these deaths. The usual victim is the teenage and inexperienced school girl who has no ready access to contraceptive practice. Death was mainly due to sepsis, (including tetanus) hemorrhage, and trauma to vital organs, complication directly attributable to faulty techniques by unskilled abortion providers, by- product of the present restrictive abortion laws. Total overhaul of maternal child health services and family health education system, as well as integration of planned parenthood at primary health care level into the health care delivery system, are suggested. Contraceptive practice should be made available to all categories of women at risk and the cost subsidized by governmental and institutional bodies. Where unwanted pregnancies occur, the authors advocate termination in appropriate health institutions where lethal and sometimes fatal complications are unlikely to occur. In effect, from the results of this study and review of studies on abortion deaths in Nigeria and other developing countries, it is obvious that a revision of abortion laws as they operate, notable, in the African continent, is overdue.

Penal Code, 20 December 1987

Section 340 of this Code provides that any person inducing a voluntary pregnancy termination in a pregnant woman by providing her with medicaments or by using instruments for this purpose is liable to up to five years' imprisonment. The maximum penalty is increased to seven years if the termination is performed without the woman's consent.

United Kingdom. Court of Appeal. C. v. S., 25 February 1987

The father of a fetus of eighteen to twenty-one weeks' gestation sought orders on his own behalf and that of the fetus prohibiting the mother and her area health authority from aborting the fetus. He claimed that the proposed abortion would violate provisions of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929, which made it an offence for any person, with intent to destroy the life of a child capable of being born alive, to cause it to die before it had an existence independent of its mother. The Court refused to make the orders, ruling that although a fetus between eighteen and twenty-one weeks old showed signs of movement, it was not capable of being born alive within the meaning of the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. The Court did not make a ruling on the lower court's conclusion that the father and the fetus had no standing to bring this action. The House of Lords rejected the plaintiff's petition for leave to appeal the holding of the Court of Appeal.