Will Abortions Be Banned in Armenia?

The newspaper ‘Joghavorout’ reports: A draft law has been published on the National Assembly of Armenia's website, which, if adopted, will ban artificial interruptions of pregnancy (abortions) in Armenia, except in cases where the pregnancy poses a real danger to the woman's life.

The draft proposes to enshrine the right to life of the unborn child from the moment of fertilization and to establish criminal liability for the illegal deprivation of life of the unborn child, while exempting the mother of the child and conscientious healthcare workers from liability.

Under existing regulations, abortions are allowed up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, and beyond that, abortions may be permitted for medical and 'social' reasons, such as the death of the husband during pregnancy, imprisonment of the woman or her husband, divorce during pregnancy, and pregnancies resulting from rape.

The justification for the draft indicates that, according to official data, almost half a million abortions have been registered in Armenia since independence. In October 2019, a public awareness campaign against selective abortions took place in Armenia, which was joined by high-ranking officials, including Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan and Minister of Health Arsen Torosyan. The latter stated that due to selective abortions, approximately 1,300 girls are not born each year in Armenia, and over the past 25 years, around 40,000 girls have not been born. The minister also urged not to differentiate between boys and girls and emphasized the importance of valuing all children.

For more details, see today’s issue of the newspaper.