Abortion in Ukraine

Abortion in Ukraine is legal on request during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. Between 12 and 28 weeks, abortion is available on a variety of grounds, including medical, social and personal grounds, and for any reason with the approval of a commission of physicians.^[1]

Prior to 1991, abortion in Ukraine was governed by the abortion laws of the Soviet Union. The laws have not changed since then. Abortion rates have fallen from 109 abortions per 1000 women aged 15–44 in 1986 to 80.9 in 1991, 67.2 in 1996^[1] and 27.5 in 2004.^[2] As of 2010, the abortion rate was 21.2 abortions per 1000 women aged 15–44.^[3] The gap between the abortion rate in Ukraine and the abortion rates in Belarus and Russia has been widening since the 1990s.^{[4][nb 1]}

Notes

1. Belarus, Russia and Ukraine were part of the Soviet Union since 1920 till Ukraine declared its independence from the Soviet Union on 24 August 1991.^[5]

References

1. "Ukraine". Abortion Policies: A Global Review (DOC). Country Profiles. United Nations Population Division. 2002. pp. 150–152. OCLC 48213121. Retrieved 27 March 2014.
2. "World Abortion Policies 2007". United Nations. 2007. Retrieved 25 March 2014.
3. "World Abortion Policies 2013". United Nations. 2013. Retrieved 3 March 2014.
4. Denisov, B. P.; Sakevich, V. I.; Jasilioniene, A. (2012). "Divergent Trends in Abortion and Birth Control Practices in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine". PLoS ONE. 7 (11): e49986. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0049986. PMC 3542819. PMID 23349656.
5. A History of Ukraine: The Land and Its Peoples by Paul Robert Magocsi, University of Toronto Press, 2010, ISBN 1442610212 (page 563/564 & 722/723)