Abortion in Europe: are the laws and practices patient
centred?
C Fiala
Gynmed Clinic, Vienna, Austria
For most women the diagnosis of an unwanted pregnancy is
unexpected. The women are therefore unprepared, be it for carrying the pregnancy
to term or having an abortion. They need a great deal of information within a
very short space of time. In case they have taken the decision to terminate the
pregnancy, it is crucial for them to get fast access to medical facilities. It
is interesting to analyse legal requirements and regulations in European
countries, as to how far they support the women in this crisis situation in
finding a solution.Societies react differently to the needs of the women,
although the past was dominated by a rigid paternalism, coupled with beliefs
that pregnant women could not responsibly make decisions regarding their own
pregnancy. Society therefore “had” to intervene in order to ensure
that the “right” decision was taken. A huge progress has been made
over the last decades to overcome this approach and the legalisation of abortion
has been a corner stone. However there are still many remnants of the old
thinking like obligatory waiting (“cool off”) periods of an arbitrary
number of days or an obligatory counselling. So far there is no evidence that
these restrictions are of any benefit. They do, however, lead to a delay in the
provision of the treatment and have negative effects on the physical and
psychological experience of those affected. Examples and comparisons of European
countries are given in the presentation.