Danish advisory council recommends abortions beyond 12-week limit
A general view of an exam room is seen inside a Planned Parenthood facility. Photo Sprecher, Icon SMI
Northern Europe
Fifty years after Denmark legalised abortion, its advisory Ethics Council is now looking to raise the legal limit.
The Danish Ethics Council recommends performing abortions up to 18 weeks in pregnancy, Kristeligt Dagblad recently reported. The current legal maximum is set at 12 weeks. At least nine out of the 17 members are in favour of raising the cap to 18 weeks. Four members voted for a 15-week limit while another four believed it should remain at 12 weeks. Although the Council solely functions as an advisory body, the Danish Parliament (Folketing) has the final say in the decision.
The Council’s chairman, Leif Vestergaard Pedersen, says that the abortion limit should be raised to 15 weeks, despite the current law being “reasonable.”
Scandinavia
“I still end up at 15 weeks, because I can see the inappropriateness of the woman going for foetal diagnostic examinations at week 12 and being told that there is a problem with the foetus. She must then apply for permission for a late abortion. By moving the limit to week 15, I think we can get more of the abortions that need to be done before week 15,” Pedersen says.
When it comes to the rest of Scandinavia, Sweden can carry out abortions as late as 18 weeks. After that point, later abortions can be carried out only through an exemption. In Norway, the current limit is at 12, but debates remain in raising it to 18 weeks.
Difference
Although the majority in the council are set on raising the cap, Ida Donkin believes in keeping it at 12 weeks. Donkin is a member of the ethics council and a future specialist in gynaecology and obstetrics.
“In my work, I notice the biggest difference when you see the size of the foetus. Already in the 12th week, the foetus has developed most organs. When a foetus is aborted in the 12th week, you can be in doubt as to what is the foetus and what is the placenta, but around the 18th week of pregnancy it begins to take on a more human form,” she said to Kristelight Dagblad.
Argument
Like Donkin, Gorm Greisen, agrees that the 12-week limit should still be implemented. However, the ongoing debate can never determine how much of a “soul” these “little bodies” have.
“I played with my background as a paediatrician, where my main argument is that it is the same little bodies, we are talking about. How much soul they have, we cannot really know. But both the born and the unborn have a future as children, unless we make a different choice for them,” he said. Greisen is the former chairman of the council and a professor of paediatrics.
According to a Politiken report, a 22-week cap was also discussed. No consensus could be reached, since a foetus can show signs of survival around that point. The Ethics Council also recommends abortions for 15–17-year-olds without parental consent.
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