The topic of artificial termination of pregnancy, more commonly known as abortion, has always been one of ethical, moral, political, sociological, religious and legal controversy. This is one of the decisive reasons why we have so many different legal arrangements regarding the acceptability of carrying out abortions around the world. Most legislations combine the system, where a woman decides to intervene alone, without giving any reason and the system of allowing abortion when indications are present. Slovenia has a system where the pregnancy until a specified time may be terminated due to the free will of a woman who does not want a child, after the expiration of this time, the interference is permitted only for certain reasons, which are assessed by a special commission.
On the other hand legislation in Poland and Ireland is quite the opposite of this and gives the woman a very limited few reasons when termination of pregnancy is allowed.
The states often regulate abortion from the standpoint of the fetus. It is important whether “pro-choice" beliefs are respected, which gives women the freedom to decide on the fetus, or "pro-life" beliefs, which protects the life of the fetus, which is treated as a human being, which further means that the woman carrying the fetus has no say regarding its fate.
When reviewing the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights a certain hesitation on these topics can be observed, as the Court finds that the European Convention on Human Rights and Liberties leaves the member states room for discretion. In conjunction with restrictive legislation, a growing number of women who choose to have a procedure performed abroad can be noticed (leading to development of so-called "medical tourism" or “abortion tourism”) or through illegal channels in order to avoid punishment that is prescribed for abortion by local statues in their home country.
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