Even if pregnancy is the result of rape or incest.
Regardless of where you stand on the issue of abortion, it is important to know which countries in the world have made the decision for women by banning abortion as a whole. Whether it’s due to religious or cultural reasons, illegalizing abortion has caused women to flee their own countries, suffer through dangerous obstacles in order to claim their right to choose.
In 1983, Irish lawmakers banned all abortions even in the case of rape and incest. In 2013, changes were made to allow abortions if the women’s lives were in danger. Although, reform came a year after Savita Halappanavar already died from blood poisoning when doctors refused to perform an abortion on her despite that she was miscarrying, as Washington Post reported. In 2018, Ireland finally voted by a landslide to repeal its near-total ban on abortion, an extraordinary victory for women’s rights.
Today, there remains more than two dozen countries where such a woman’s right is non-existent. According to World Population Review, here are 26 countries that have completely banned abortion, even if pregnancy is the result of rape or incest:
- Andorra
- Angola
- Congo-Brazzaville
- Congo-Kinshasa
- Dominican Republic
- Egypt
- El Salvador
- Gabon
- Guinea-Bissau
- Haiti
- Honduras
- Iraq
- Laos
- Madagascar
- Malta
- Marshall Islands
- Mauritania
- Micronesia
- Nicaragua
- Palau
- Philippines
- San Marino
- Sao Tome and Principe
- Senegal
- Suriname
- Tonga
