The Norwegian parliament on Tuesday adopted a text aimed at extending the legal limit for freely chosen abortion from 12 to 18 weeks in the Scandinavian country.
Meeting in plenary session, the deputies voted by a large majority in favour of a bill from the centre-left minority government - itself divided on the issue - which will replace a law dating back to 1978, still in force today.
The main provision extends from 12 to 18 weeks the period at the beginning of pregnancy during which a woman can freely have an abortion, as in neighbouring Sweden.
To date, abortion is possible after the 12th week in Norway, but it is conditional on the approval of an evaluation committee composed of two doctors (one man and one woman). Refusals are extremely rare.
A system deemed obsolete, conservative and "paternalistic" by the defenders of the new law which, they argue, allows "women to have control over their own bodies."
Opponents, particularly within the small Christian Democratic Party, objected that authorising late-term abortions, often linked to problems with the viability of the foetus, amounted to "eliminating the patient" rather than "eliminating his illness".
A majority of MPs also voted in favour of extending until the 18th week the possibility for a woman to reduce the number of foetuses in the case of a multiple pregnancy.
According to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, 83.71% of all elective pregnancy terminations registered in Norway in 2023 took place before the 9th week of pregnancy.
Only 4.7% occurred beyond the 12th week after green light from the medical evaluation committee.
In May, Denmark also announced plans to extend the legal limit from 12 to 18 weeks under a new law that, if passed, would come into effect on June 1, 2025.
In Western Europe, the countries that allow the latest abortions are the United Kingdom and the Netherlands (24 weeks), and Iceland (22 weeks).
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