Abortion Laws and Sexual Violence
Sexual violence is a global problem, affecting the lives of
women and girls of all ages and of all types of backgrounds. Victims of sexual
abuse may suffer from a number of physical, emotional and psychological
injuries, profoundly impacting all aspects of their lives. When sexual assault
results in a pregnancy, the harm experienced may be exponentially exacerbated,
particularly, in countries with restrictive abortion laws, where such
pregnancies leave women with the dire choice between carrying the pregnancy to
term or undergoing a clandestine, unsafe abortion. This fact sheet provides an overview of legal
abortion when pregnancy results from rape along with standards established by
UN human rights treaty bodies and the World Health Organization on abortion and
the provision of emergency contraception following sexual violence.