Washington Post Op-ed Counters Claims that U.S. Abortion Restrictions Are Aligned with European Laws

In an op-ed published in The Washington Post, Leah Hoctor, senior regional director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights, counters claims made by U.S. Senator Lindsey Graham and others that Graham’s proposed federal law banning abortion at 15 weeks of pregnancy would align the U.S. with abortion laws in European countries.

Such a claim is “simply untrue,” says Hochter.

In the opinion piece, titled “U.S. abortion restrictions absolutely do not align with European law,” Hochter states that “almost all European countries allow abortion throughout pregnancy on a range of grounds, including where there are risks to a patient’s physical or mental health, and in situations involving severe or fatal fetal impairment.” Except for the very few European nations that retain highly restrictive laws on abortion, “no other European country ‘bans’ abortion after 15 weeks of pregnancy,” she adds.

Hochter also points out that, unlike in the U.S., the costs of abortion care are covered by national health insurance policies such as those of Northern and Western European countries.

Over the past few decades, European lawmakers have moved to increase access to abortion care, using public health evidence and clinical best practices as a guide.

“The fact is that most European countries are moving to expand access to abortion, not limit it,” says Hochter. “Seen in this light, the assertion that new restrictions in the United States will align with a European approach is not only false — it is unfathomable.”

Read the complete article here:

• “Opinion:  U.S. abortion restrictions absolutely do not align with European law,” The Washington Post, 09.22.22

Read more:

• While Anti-Abortion Lawmakers Rush to Enforce State Bans, U.S. Senator Proposes Nationwide Abortion Ban, 09.14.22
• The World’s Abortion Laws Map