Norway has approved a new ruling that gives foreign pregnant women more abortion rights. If a women is carrying twins, she can choose to abort one of the fetuses even if it's healthy. The said law is supported by Norway's Department of Health but it is causing quite a controversy.
Specifically, this abortion right will allow for pregnant women from neighboring countries like Sweden and Denmark to undergo "selective reduction" in Norway. This means that they can get an abortion of one of the fetuses in a twin pregnancy without any legal repercussions.
They can also get an abortion at a Norway hospital without having a permanent Norway address, provided that foreign pregnant women properly pay for the procedure and hospital expenses. Several women from the Nordic regions have apparently already made arrangements with Norway hospitals since the new ruling was announced, The Local reports.
Selective reduction has been allowed in Norway since February, which provides women the right to abort the fetus in a twin pregnancy of up to the twelve weeks. The country's health department has extended the abortion right to foreign women this week. But some are worried that the ruling might only promote abortion tourism.
Dagsavisen reports that Christian Democrats are calling on a ban on all types of fetal reduction. But this has been an ongoing discussion in Norway's parliament for decades. Some doctors have also expressed that there are risks to selective reduction because the twins will be unnecessarily exposed. "Our recommendation was that this should only be allowed for twins if one fetus showed developmental abnormalities, " Dr. Birgitte Heiberg Kahrs from Oslo said, according to Independent.
Life News points out that Norway's law might seem liberal but U.S. and Canadian abortion laws are actually a lot more radical. In these countries, abortion is allowable for up to 20 weeks of pregnancy and the reason for terminating the fetus is immaterial.
