Countries Where Abortion Is Illegal 2024

Snapshot

Most countries where abortion is legal impose a gestational limit, typically around 12 weeks, with exceptions for rape, incest, and significant fetal impairments.
In 37 countries, abortion is permitted solely to save the mother's life, highlighting the prioritization of maternal health in certain legal frameworks, with exceptions like ectopic pregnancies.
Economic considerations influence abortion laws in some regions, allowing for termination due to financial hardship.

Abortion, the process of prematurely terminating a pregnancy through surgical means, has always been a controversial subject. Abortion is a deeply personal matter, and our opinions on it are formed by our most fundamental moral, emotional, religious, political, and ethical beliefs. Abortion involves both the potential mother's right to bodily autonomy (and health) and the unborn child's right to life—two inalienable rights that abortion sets against one another. Because of these factors and more, abortion laws vary significantly between nations, as well as between various U.S. states.

The undeniable (though understandable) complexity of abortion laws

Laws regarding abortion are diverse. As of 2021, there are twenty-four countries in which abortion is illegal in any and all circumstances. However, most countries have adopted a more nuanced approach. Nearly every country in which abortion is legal has what is known as a gestational limit, which means a fetus or embryo can be aborted early in the pregnancy, but cannot be aborted once it reaches a certain stage of development. This is typically 12 weeks, but may be as low as 6 weeks or as high as 24 weeks. Abortion may also be legal in cases in which the pregnancy is the result of rape, incest, or if the fetus has a noticeable developmental impairment. In some countries (particularly in Asia, where male children tend to be valued more than female children) gender-based abortion is legal.

The mother's health factors into the equation as well. In 37 countries, abortion is illegal unless it saves the mother's life. In other countries, it is illegal unless used to save the mother's life or preserve her health during pregnancy. An example of this situation is an ectopic pregnancy, in which the embryo fails to implant in the uterus and instead implants in a different organ (fallopian tubes, ovaries) or just outside the uterus. Ectopic pregnancies cannot be carried to term—the embryo cannot survive outside the uterus—and have a high probability of causing fatal injuries to the mother as well if not aborted.

Finances are another important variable. Some countries' abortion laws allow abortion if carrying the pregnancy to term would inflict unreasonable socioeconomic hardship on the mother. Studies have shown that women denied access to abortion are markedly more likely to descend into poverty as a result of the added financial burden of caring for an additional child.

Finally, there are countless additional guidelines to many countries' abortion laws, such as requiring parental/spousal consent (or a police report in cases of rape), restricting access to methods of determining the sex of the fetus, or requiring the pregnant woman to first view an ultrasound or listen for a fetal heartbeat.

Countries in which abortion is completely illegal/prohibited*:

Andorra	Haiti	Malta	Republic of the Congo
Aruba	Honduras	Mauritania	San Marino
Curaçao (territory)	Iraq	Nicaragua	Senegal
Dominican Republic	Jamaica	Palau	Sierra Leone
Laos	Palestine	Suriname	Tonga
El Salvador	Madagascar	Philippines

*Note: The table above includes only countries in which abortion has been completely prohibited. For a more complete and detailed list of countries and their various legal stances on abortion, see the table further down the page.

The real-world impact of making abortion illegal

According to data from the World Health Organization (WHO), the legality of abortion across the world actually has little to no effect on abortion rates throughout the world. Legal or not, abortions can, will, and do take place. The legality of abortion, however, does affect how safe those abortions are. Women who do not have access to a legal abortion frequently turn to illegal or "homemade" abortion options, which are typically much riskier, more dangerous, and less effective than legal options conducted by professional doctors in a clinical setting would be.

Abortion laws of major countries compared

United States

Abortion laws in the United States are in flux as of 2022. Abortion was made legal across the entire the United States by the Supreme Court's landmark Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. While each state still had its own set of legal guidelines for abortion, with some being far more restrictive than others, abortion was nonetheless legal in every part of the country. However, Roe v. Wade was overturned by the then-current Supreme Court on June 24, 2022, in a case titled Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. This decision enabled each individual state to legalize or prohibit abortion. As a result, state abortion laws vary more widely than ever.

Prior to Roe v. Wade, 30 states had banned abortion outright. Although Roe v. Wade forced these states to legalize abortion, many still enacted laws limiting abortion as much as legally allowed. The expectation was that such states would quickly move to prohibit abortion again. This proved to be the case, with more than 20 states, particularly red states in the central and southern U.S., re-banning abortion within a week of the Dobbs decision.

Some of these bans were the result of pre-existing abortion bans that had been rendered inactive by Roe v. Wade but never removed from the state's legal code, so they became active again upon RvW's dissolution. Additionally, beginning with South Dakota in 2005, thirteen states had passed proactive "trigger laws"—anti-abortion laws that were specifically designed to go into effect in the event that Roe v. Wade was ever repealed.

There is some indication that new abortion bans will be more restrictive and punitive than those from the pre-RvW era. For example, a 2021 Texas law (S.B. 8) empowered individual citizens to sue anyone they discovered had performed or aided an abortion, even if they had never met any of the parties involved. This regulation had not appeared in Texas' pre-RvW abortion laws.

Brazil

Latin America's largest country has not completely outlawed abortion, but it does consider abortion a crime in all but a few select circumstances: When the pregnant woman was raped, when the pregnancy is the result of incest/sexual activity with a family member, or when the woman's life would be endangered by continuing the pregnancy. These three exceptions are quite common globally and are found in many countries' abortion laws.

Canada

Abortions are legal in Canada and require no legally compelling reason (such as rape or health risks) so long as they take place before the gestational limit, which ranges from 12 weeks to "24 weeks + 6 days" depending upon province and territory. Abortions were banned in most cases until the year 1988, when the Canadian Supreme Court reversed the laws that once made abortions illegal. Abortions fall under the services covered by Canada's national health care system. Provided the abortion is conducted in a regular hospital, the patient is not charged. Abortions performed in private clinics may require the patient to pay medical costs.

Russia

Abortion is fully legal up to the 12th week of pregnancy in Russia, as well as up to 22 weeks in cases of rape and at any point if the pregnancy threatens the life of the mother. Russia actually made abortion legal for any reason in 1920, making it the first country to do so. Although a broad ban was reinstated in 1936, that ban was lifted in 1955 and abortion access has remained open ever since. As of 2010, Russia led the world in the number of abortions per capita.

List of countries of the world and their abortion laws:

On Request — Abortion for any reason is legal, though gestational limits still apply.
Save Life — Abortion is legal when necessary to save the life of the woman.
Physical Health — Abortion is legal when pregnancy risks significant (but non-fatal) injury to the woman.
Mental Health — Abortion is legal when pregnancy puts the woman's mental/emotional health at risk.
Rape — Abortion is legal when the pregnancy is the result of rape.
Incest — Abortion is legal when the pregnancy is the result of incest.
Cognitively Disabled — Abortion is legal when the woman is mentally or cognitively disabled.
Fetal Impairment — Abortion is legal when the fetus is known to have significant mental disabilities or physical malformations. As these can range from non-life-threatening conditions such as Down Syndrome to 100% fatal conditions such as anencephaly, more granular guidelines are often necessary.
Socioeconomic — Abortion is legal when the woman is financially unable to support the child.

Country	Abortion on Request	To Save Woman's Life	Physical Health Threatened	Mental Health Threatened	Cognitive Disability (in Mother)	Incest	Rape	Fetal Impairment	Economic or Social Reasons
China	Yes	Yes	Yes					Yes
Russia	Yes						Yes	Yes	Yes
Vietnam	Yes
Turkey	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Thailand	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
France	Yes							Yes
South Africa	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Spain	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Argentina	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Canada	Yes
Ukraine	Yes	Yes			Yes		Yes	Yes
Uzbekistan	Yes						Yes	Yes	Yes
Mozambique	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Nepal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Kazakhstan	Yes	Yes
Cambodia	Yes	Yes					Yes	Yes
Tunisia	Yes	No	No		No	No	No	Yes	No
Belgium	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Cuba	Yes	Yes					Yes	Yes	Yes
Sweden	Yes	Yes
Czech Republic	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes	Yes
Greece	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Portugal	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Belarus	Yes	Yes							Yes
Serbia	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Bulgaria	Yes	Yes
Turkmenistan	Yes								Yes
Singapore	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Denmark	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Slovakia	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes	No
Finland	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Norway	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
New Zealand	Yes
Ireland	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Croatia	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes	Yes
Georgia	Yes	Yes			Yes		Yes	Yes
Mongolia	Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Uruguay	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Moldova	Yes	Yes			Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Bosnia and Herzegovina	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Albania	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Armenia	Yes	Yes					Yes	Yes
Lithuania	Yes	Yes			Yes
Slovenia	Yes	Yes
North Macedonia	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Latvia	Yes						Yes	Yes
Estonia	Yes							Yes
Guyana	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Luxembourg	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Montenegro	Yes	Yes				Yes	Yes	Yes
Cape Verde	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Iceland	Yes	Yes
Sao Tome and Principe	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Isle of Man	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
San Marino	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
United States	Varies by state	Varies by state	Varies by state	Varies by state	Varies by state	Varies by state	Varies by state	Varies by state	Varies by state
Mexico	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion
Australia	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion	Varies by jurisdicion
India	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Indonesia	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Pakistan	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Nigeria	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No		No
Brazil	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Bangladesh	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ethiopia	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Japan	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Philippines	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Egypt	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
DR Congo	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Iran	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Germany	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	No
Italy	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes
Myanmar	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Colombia	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
South Korea	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Sudan	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Iraq	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Algeria	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Afghanistan	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Poland	No	Yes	No	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Morocco	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Angola	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Saudi Arabia	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Yemen	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ghana	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Peru	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Malaysia	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Madagascar	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ivory Coast	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Venezuela	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Cameroon	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Niger	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Syria	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Mali	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Burkina Faso	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Sri Lanka	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Chile	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	No	No
Romania	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Chad	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Somalia	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Ecuador	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	No	Yes
Guatemala	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Senegal	No		No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Netherlands	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Zimbabwe	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Guinea	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Rwanda	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Benin	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Burundi	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Haiti	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Dominican Republic	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Jordan	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
South Sudan	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Honduras	No		No	No	No				No
Hungary	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
United Arab Emirates	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Israel	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No
Togo	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Austria	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Switzerland	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Nicaragua	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Libya	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Paraguay	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
El Salvador	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Republic of the Congo	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Central African Republic	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Costa Rica	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Mauritania	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Oman	No		No	No	No	No	No		No
Panama	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Eritrea	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Qatar	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	No
Namibia	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Gabon	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Lesotho	No	No	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Equatorial Guinea	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Bahrain	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Timor Leste	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	No
Mauritius	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Eswatini	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Djibouti	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Comoros	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Bhutan	No	Yes	No	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	No
Suriname	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Malta	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Maldives	No	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No	No
Brunei	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Samoa	No	Yes	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	No	No
Andorra	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Liechtenstein	No	Yes	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Monaco	No	Yes	Yes	No	No	No	Yes	Yes	No
Palau	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Vatican City	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No	No
Tanzania		Yes
United Kingdom		Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes
Kenya		Yes	Yes	Yes
Uganda		Yes
Malawi		Yes
Zambia		Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes
Bolivia		Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	No	No
Papua New Guinea		Yes
Tajikistan									Yes
Laos							Yes
Hong Kong		Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes
Liberia			Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes
Lebanon		Yes
Gambia		Yes						Yes
Botswana		Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes
Trinidad and Tobago		Yes	Yes	Yes
Cyprus		Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes
Fiji		Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes
Solomon Islands		Yes
Belize		Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes
Barbados		Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes
Saint Lucia		Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes
Kiribati		Yes
Jersey		Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes
Seychelles		Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes	Yes
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines		Yes	Yes	Yes		Yes	Yes	Yes
Guernsey		Yes	Yes	Yes				Yes
Cook Islands		Yes
Nauru		Yes
Tuvalu		Yes

Country

Abortion on Request

To Save Woman's Life

Physical Health Threatened

Mental Health Threatened

Cognitive Disability (in Mother)

Incest

Rape

Fetal Impairment

Economic or Social Reasons

China

Yes