Late Abortion in Case of Severe Foetal Abnormality

摘要

The abortion legislation in many European countries allows for termination of pregnancy when there are serious abnormalities in the foetus. However, usually an upper time limit is placed on abortion. This can be a problem, because — although new developments in prenatal testing increase the possibility of discovering foetal abnormality in the first months of pregnancy - there will always remain cases in which anomalies are only detected at late gestational stage. Termination of pregnancy will in particular be problematic when it is to take place in the third trimester. Then the foetus is considered viable, i.e. it could (hypotheti-cally) survive independently outside the womb. This point in foetal development is in general reached around the 24th week of pregnancy. Viability is generally regarded as an important milestone, beyond which the protection of the foetus takes precedence over the interests of the mother. When that time limit is reached, termination should, as a rule, not take place, or only in exceptional circumstances. Whereas in most jurisdictions - even in those with very strict abortion policies - there remains room for abortion when the life of the mother is in danger, in case of a severe, incurable foetal disease or handicap there seem to be less countries with legislation that permits late termination of pregnancy. Does the European Convention on Human Rights allow for such legislation? Should national laws leave room for abortion for foetal abnormalities? In which ways could they do so?