Legal and Policy Barriers to Self-Managed Abortion

Self-Managed Abortion: The Global Legal Landscape

Medications like misoprostol and mifepristone offer people a safe, private, and effective way to self-manage abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Yet, legal and policy barriers persist in countries around the world. The Center, along with the World Health Organization, recognizes that abortion policies must center individuals’ autonomy, privacy, and decision-making and remove unnecessary barriers to self-managing care.

Use the tools below to explore the laws and policies impacting self-managed abortion in 39 jurisdictions. Although supportive policies for self-managed care exist, the analysis shows that even in places with permissive abortion laws, numerous barriers undermine people’s ability to legally self-manage abortion.

Resources

Legal and Policy Barriers to Self-Managed Abortion: A Comparative Analysis of the Laws of 35 Countries and 4 US States (2024): This report explores the status of SMA in 39 jurisdictions, identifies best practices, and has recommendations for strengthening laws and policies.

SMA: Legal Analysis by Country: This compendium complements Legal and Policy Barriers to SMA (2024), providing detailed information about and citations for the specific laws and policies of each country related to each metric assessed.

Legal and Policy Barriers to Self-Managed Abortion (2022): This preliminary report published assesses the barriers to SMA in 8 countries.

World Abortion Laws Map: A full analysis of abortion legality in almost every country worldwide.