Forced abortion is a form of reproductive coercion that refers to the act of compelling a woman to undergo termination of a pregnancy against her will or without explicit consent.[1] Forced abortion may also be defined as coerced abortion, and may occur due to a variety of outside forces such as societal pressure, or due to intervention by perpetrators such as an intimate partner, parental guardian, medical practitioners, or others who may cause abortion by force, threat or coercion.[1] It may also occur by taking advantage of a situation where a pregnant individual is unable to give consent, or when valid consent is in question due to duress. This may also include the instances when the conduct was neither justified by medical or hospital treatment, which does not include instances in which the pregnant individual is at risk of life-threatening injury due to unsustainable pregnancy.[1] Similar to other forms of reproductive coercion such as forced sterilization, forced abortion may include a physical invasion of female reproductive organs, therefore creating the possibly of causing long term threat or injury preventing viable future pregnancies.[citation needed] Forced abortion is considered a human rights violation by the United Nations due to its failure to comply with the human right to reproductive choice and control without coercion, discrimination, and violence.[2]
Nazi Germany
editDuring World War II, abortion policy in Nazi Germany varied depending on the people, group, and territory the policy was directed at, as German women were forbidden to have an abortion.[3] The commonality between policies was its purpose in promoting the birth rate and population of the putative "Aryan race" and minimizing the population of those such as Jewish, Polish, and Roma women.[3] Additionally, those deemed an overall burden on German society such as the disabled or mentally ill were also subjected to forced abortion with sterilization to follow, and were among the only Germans who were legally subjected to receiving an abortion.[3] These accounts have been categorized as a part of Nazi Germany's "systematic program of genocide, aimed at the destruction of foreign nations and ethnic groups".[4]
After the war ended, the practices of forced abortion towards condemned groups among Nazi society was determined to be a war crime upon assessment during the Nuremberg Trials.[3] Those guilty of encouraging or enforcing abortion during the Holocaust were sentenced to a minimum of 25 years imprisonment due to their practice being considered a "inhumane act of extermination".[3]
People's Republic of China
editForced abortions associated with administration of the one-child policy have occurred in the People's Republic of China; they are a violation of Chinese law and are not official policy.[5] They result from government pressure on local officials who, in turn, employ strong-arm tactics on pregnant mothers.[6] On September 29, 1997, a bill was introduced in the United States Congress titled Forced Abortion Condemnation Act, that sought to "condemn those officials of the Chinese Communist Party, the government of the People's Republic of China and other persons who are involved in the enforcement of forced abortions by preventing such persons from entering or remaining in the United States".[7] In June 2012 Feng Jianmei was forcibly made to abort her 7 month old fetus after not paying a fine for breaking the one-child policy.[5] Her case was widely discussed on the internet in China to general revulsion after photos of the stillborn baby were posted online.[8] A fortnight after the forced abortion she continued to be harassed by local authorities in Shanxi Province.[9] On July 5, the European Parliament passed a resolution saying it "strongly condemns" both Feng's case specifically and forced abortions in general "especially in the context of the one-child policy".[10]
Part of the work of the activist "barefoot lawyer" Chen Guangcheng also concerned excesses of this nature.[11] By 2012, disagreement with forced abortion was being expressed by the public in China, thought to be fuelling pressure to repeal the one-child policy.[6][12] After the shift to a two-child policy in January 2016, the practice was reported in 2020 to still occur through persecution of the Uyghur minority in Xinjiang leading to the US government imposing sanctions on officials in response.[13]
North Korean refugees repatriated from China
editForced abortions and infanticide are used as a form of punishment in prison camps. The North Korean regime banned pregnancy in its camps in the 1980s.[14] China returns all illegal immigrants from North Korea which usually imprisons them in a short-term facility. Many North Korean defectors assert that forced abortions and infanticide are common in these prisons.[14][15][16] The majority of the prisoners held in the Chinese detention centers are women. Repatriated North Koreans are subject to forced abortions regardless of perceived crimes. North Korean police's efforts are to prevent North Korean women from having ethnically mixed children with Han Chinese men. Medical care was not provided to North Korean women who underwent forced abortions.[17]
United Kingdom
editOn June 21, 2019, the UK Court of Protection ordered a disabled woman to have an abortion against her will.[18] The woman had a moderate mood disorder and learning disability and under the care of an NHS trust, which argued that she was mentally incompetent and that having a child would worsen her mental health. Justice Nathalie Lieven subsequently approved the forced abortion under the Mental Capacity Act 2005 despite the wishes of herself and her mother. The decision was criticized by the Catholic Church, the Disability Rights Commission, and numerous anti-abortion activist groups such as Life and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.[19] The case was subsequently overturned by the Court of Appeal.[20][21]
United States
editForced abortion in sex trafficking
editIn a series of focus groups conducted around the United States by anti-trafficking activist Laura Lederer in 2014, over 25% of survivors of domestic sex trafficking who responded to the question reported that they had been forced to have an abortion.[22][23]
Russia
editForced sterilization and abortion are common practices in Russian psychoneurologic internats (PNIs). Since children cannot legally live in psychoneurologic internats in Russia, and there are no institutions where internats' patients can live with their children, almost all pregnant women are aborted in PNIs. During abortions, PNI patients are also often subjected to forced sterilization - their fallopian tubes are tied, motivated by allegedly detected "serious complications".[24]
India
editLaws surrounding forced abortions
editSection 314 in The Indian Penal Code deals with forced abortion, it reads as- 'Whoever, with intent to cause the miscarriage of a woman with child, does any act which causes the death of such woman, shall be punished with imprisonment of either description for a term which may extend to ten years, and shall also be liable to fine; If act done without woman's consent.' [25]
Laws surrounding abortion
editThe Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act (MTP) was passed in 1971 in response to the rising incidence of abortions performed without proper medical supervision, which was leading to an alarmingly high number of maternal deaths. Abortion was made legal in India as a result of the MTP statute. Before this legislation, having an abortion was considered a crime, which led to a significant number of women having them despite the risks involved.[26] This legislation establishes norms and restrictions for the termination of pregnancy, which may only be performed by registered medical practitioners (a medical practitioner who has a recognised medical qualification, as defined in section 2 (h) of the Indian Medical Council Act, 1956).[26] The most recent update to this statute was made in 2021, the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act of 2021 modifies the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971 to increase the maximum limit for abortion from 20 to 24 weeks for certain women. The Amendment increases the upper gestational limit from 20 to 24 weeks for certain categories of women, which would be specified in the MTPA 2021 and would include rape survivors, incest victims, and other vulnerable women (such as women with disabilities or minors).[27]
Sex selective abortion
editResearchers anticipate that there would be 6.8 million fewer female births in India by 2030 due to the continued practise of selective abortions.[28] The Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act of 1994 makes it unlawful to divulge the sex of an unborn child save for medical grounds in India. The sex ratio at birth worsened in several states due to inconsistent legal enforcement. Indian authorities often arrest groups who do for pregnancy tests. India's gender ratio—900-930 females for 1,000 males—reflects its attitude towards girls. Males are breadwinners and girls burdens in all socioeconomic classes. Males get healthier diets and better access to medical treatment than girls.[28][vague]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ a b c Pike, Gregory K. (2025-08-07). "Coerced Abortion – The Neglected Face of Reproductive Coercion". The New Bioethics. 29 (2): 85–107. doi:10.1080/20502877.2022.2136026. ISSN 2050-2877. PMID 36260375. S2CID 252993533.
- ^ "Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, Fourth World Conference on Women: Action for Equality, Development and Peace, 1995", International Human Rights Law Documents, Cambridge University Press, pp. 428–431, 2025-08-07, doi:10.1017/9781316677117.051, ISBN 9781316677117, S2CID 239904934, retrieved 2025-08-07
- ^ a b c d e David, Henry P.; Fleischhacker, Jochen; Hohn, Charlotte (March 1988). "Abortion and Eugenics in Nazi Germany". Population and Development Review. 14 (1): 81–112. doi:10.2307/1972501. ISSN 0098-7921. JSTOR 1972501. PMID 11655915.
- ^ Trials of War Criminals Before the Nuernberg Military Tribunals under Control Council Law No. 10 (Volume 4). 1947. pp. 609–610.
- ^ a b David Barboza (June 15, 2012). "China Suspends Family Planning Workers After Forced Abortion". The New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
- ^ a b Edward Wong (July 22, 2012). "Reports of Forced Abortions Fuel Push to End Chinese Law". The New York Times. Retrieved July 23, 2012.
- ^ "H.R. 2570 (105th): Forced Abortion Condemnation Act". Govtrack.us. Retrieved 27 April 2012.
- ^ Evan Osnos (June 15, 2012). "Abortion and Politics in China" (Blog by reporter in reliable source). The New Yorker. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
- ^ Edward Wong (June 26, 2012). "Forced to Abort, Chinese Woman Under Pressure". The New York Times. Retrieved June 27, 2012.
- ^ "EU Parliament condemns China forced abortions". Philippine Daily Inquirer. Agence France-Presse. July 6, 2012. Retrieved July 7, 2012.
- ^ Pan, Philip P. (8 July 2006). "Chinese to Prosecute Peasant Who Resisted One-Child Policy". The Washington Post. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ Forced abortion sparks outrage, debate in China CNN, June 2012
- ^ Jerry Dunleavy (July 09, 2020). US sanctions Chinese Communist Party officials for Uighur human rights abuses. Washington Examiner. Retrieved August 26, 2020.
- ^ a b James Brooke (June 10, 2002). "N. Koreans Talk of Baby Killings". The New York Times. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
- ^ David Hawk (2012). The Hidden Gulag Second Edition The Lives and Voices of "Those Who are Sent to the Mountains" (PDF) (Second ed.). Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. pp. 111–155. ISBN 978-0615623672. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
- ^ Kirby, Michael Donald; Biserko, Sonja; Darusman, Marzuki (7 February 2014). Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea - A/HRC/25/CRP.1 (Report). United Nations Human Rights Council. Archived from the original on Feb 27, 2014.
- ^ Hawk, David (2012). The Hidden Gulag, Second Edition, The Lives and Voices of "Those Who are Sent to the Mountains". Washington, DC: The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. pp. 99–123. ISBN 978-0615623672.
- ^ "UK court orders forced abortion for disabled Catholic, Nigerian woman". Catholic News Agency. 21 June 2019. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ Joseph, Yonette (2025-08-07). "U.K. Court Says Mentally Disabled Woman Must Have Abortion". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
- ^ "Appeal court overturns forced abortion ruling". TheGuardian.com. 24 June 2019.
- ^ Hannon, Paul (2025-08-07). "U.K. Court of Appeal Overturns Ruling Ordering Mentally Disabled Woman to Have Abortion". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
- ^ Lederer, Laura (11 September 2014). "Examining H.R. 5411, the Trafficking Awareness Training for Health Care Act of 2014" (PDF). US House of Representatives, Energy and Commerce Committee, Witness Hearings. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ Lederer, Laura; Wetzel, Christopher A. (2014). "The health consequences of sex trafficking and their implications for identifying victims in healthcare facilities" (PDF). Annals Health. 23: 61. Retrieved 1 August 2017.
- ^ Allenova, Olga; Tsvetkova, Roza (4 April 2016). "ПНИ — это смесь больницы и тюрьмы" [PNI is a mixture of hospital and prison]. Коммерсантъ-Власть (in Russian). No. 13. p. 12. Retrieved 7 February 2024.
- ^ "Section 314 in The Indian Penal Code".
- ^ a b "Abortion laws In India". legalserviceindia.com. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
- ^ "Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Act, 2021". legalserviceindia.com. Retrieved 2025-08-07.
- ^ a b Dhillon, Amrit (2025-08-07). "Selective abortion in India could lead to 6.8m fewer girls being born by 2030". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-08-07.