Abortion in Eritrea

In Eritrea, abortion is banned except on the grounds of pregnancy from rape or incest, pregnancy of a minor, or risk to physical or mental health. Legal abortions require medical or judicial approval. Prior to Eritrea's independence, it applied Ethiopia's abortion law of the 1950s, which banned abortion unless life-saving. After independence, the 1991 penal code adapted this law to lift punishments on abortions on the grounds of rape, incest, or risk to life or health, but legal abortions did not exist in effect. The penal codes of 2001 and 2015 required physicians to prove health grounds for abortion. Unsafe abortion is common and contributes to maternal mortality in Eritrea. Post-abortion care is unavailable in some regions.

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