{"id":251127,"date":"2021-08-13T14:40:38","date_gmt":"2021-08-13T19:40:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=251127"},"modified":"2021-08-13T15:27:06","modified_gmt":"2021-08-13T20:27:06","slug":"nepal-decriminalizes-abortion-un-pressure","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/nepal-decriminalizes-abortion-un-pressure\/","title":{"rendered":"Following pressure from the UN, Nepal fully decriminalizes abortion"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Nepal has fully decriminalized abortion, after a Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council led to a recommendation that the country further loosen its abortion laws.<\/p>\n

In 2002, abortion was first legalized in Nepal, on demand up to 12 weeks for any reason. If a woman was a victim of rape or incest, she could undergo an abortion through 18 weeks, and if the preborn child was diagnosed with any disability or anomaly, there were no limits at all. In 2009, Lakshmi v. Nepal<\/em> made abortion a constitutional right<\/a>, and then in 2018, the Safe Motherhood and Reproductive Health Rights (SMRHR) Act was intended to further protect Nepalese women’s supposed “right” to abortion.<\/p>\n

Yet for abortion activists, there was a problem: abortion-related provisions still remained<\/a> in the country’s criminal law. Sabin Shrestha, Executive Director of the Forum for Women, Law and Development, Nepal said<\/a> that \u201cwomen and girls were still being imprisoned if they took medical abortion tablets from a health service provider and\/or health setting not on the government’s approved list.” According to the penal code, women faced up to one year in prison and a maximum fine of Rs 10,000 (about $135 US) for abortion up to 12 weeks, three years in prison and a maximum fine of Rs 30,000 (about $404 US) for abortion after 12 weeks and up to 25 weeks, and up to five years in prison and a maximum fine of Rs 50,000 (about $673 US) for abortion after 25 weeks of pregnancy.<\/p>\n

Prabina Bajracharya, Capacity Building Manager for Asia for the Centre for Reproductive Rights, celebrated the decision<\/a>. \u201cThis is a key milestone in our efforts to decriminalize abortion and advance reproductive rights as human rights around the globe,\u201d Bajracharya said. \u201cWe look forward to working with our partners and government officials in Nepal to ensure these recommendations are fully and effectively implemented.\u201d<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Author describes seeing baby\u2019s body after abortion: \u2018I screamed\u2026 I had killed my four babies!\u2019<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Abortion is not<\/em> a human right, but the right to life<\/a> is<\/em> \u2014 and life beings at fertilization<\/em>. A preborn child’s heart begins beating between 16 and 22 days after fertilization and as shown by Live Action’s “Baby Olivia<\/a>,” her humanity is undeniable.<\/p>\n

Despite the supposed hardships women face in getting abortions in Nepal, there has been an epidemic of missing girls<\/a> due to sex-selective abortions. In the Kathmandu Valley, for example, 115 boys are born for every 100 girls, while in Arghakhanchi, one out of every 6 girls is missing. Though gender-based abortions are technically illegal in Nepal, the laws against it are said to be rarely enforced.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs fertility falls and urbanization increases, there is more access to prenatal sex identification technology in Nepal,\u201d Dr. Melanie Channon, lead author of the analysis which discovered the gender disparities in Nepal, told the Eurasia Review<\/a>. \u201cOur study shows some of the impact this has had over recent years, and we expect there will be a \u2018trickle-down\u2019 of ability to select the sex of a baby from the wealthiest and most educated as the technology becomes more widely available and more affordable. Put simply and starkly, without concerted effort, there will be an increase in sex-selective abortions in Nepal.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nepal has fully decriminalized abortion, after a Universal Periodic Review of the United Nations Human Rights Council led to a recommendation that the country further loosen its abortion laws. In 2002, abortion was first legalized in Nepal, on demand up to 12 weeks for any reason. If a woman was a victim of rape or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":251128,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,3473,11],"tags":[11847,79,11845,11850,11849,11506,11846,11848,2011],"yoast_head":"\nFollowing pressure from the UN, Nepal fully decriminalizes abortion<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Nepal has fully decriminalized abortion after facing pressure from the UN Human Rights Council as pro-abortion groups work to make abortion a 'human right.'\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/nepal-decriminalizes-abortion-un-pressure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Following pressure from the UN, Nepal fully decriminalizes abortion\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nepal has fully decriminalized abortion after facing pressure from the UN Human Rights Council as pro-abortion groups work to make abortion a 'human right.'\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/nepal-decriminalizes-abortion-un-pressure\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-08-13T19:40:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-08-13T20:27:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/GettyImages-1234513850.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/nepal-decriminalizes-abortion-un-pressure\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/nepal-decriminalizes-abortion-un-pressure\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\"},\"headline\":\"Following pressure from the UN, Nepal fully decriminalizes abortion\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-08-13T19:40:38+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-08-13T20:27:06+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/nepal-decriminalizes-abortion-un-pressure\/\"},\"wordCount\":539,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"Asia for the Centre for Reproductive Rights\",\"Center for Reproductive Rights\",\"decriminalized abortion\",\"Forum for Women Law and Development\",\"Lakshmi v. 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