Legal abortion in Denmark during the past 25 years: aspects of public health and ethics

Abstract

Since October 1, 1973, Denmark has granted its permanent residents the right to legal abortion up to the end of the 12th week of gestation. In the beginning of the period of legal abortion, the numbers of induced abortions per year were high, although they decreased during the 1980s and 1990s. Probably, information campaigns concerning the use of contraception have had some effect. Abortion figures are, however, of interest of studied as rates of abortion, i.e. numbers per 1000 women of fertile age or as age-related rates of abortion. Aspects of legal abortion comprise various topics. One of these is the ethical questions for physicians and nurses, and also for the entire population in a country with legal, and free, abortion to a certain limit. Some central ethical questions are discussed, and it is stated that we cannot perform abortion if we grant the fetus the same moral status as an adult human being.