{"id":316642,"date":"2024-08-04T13:49:17","date_gmt":"2024-08-04T18:49:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=316642"},"modified":"2024-08-02T19:10:41","modified_gmt":"2024-08-03T00:10:41","slug":"indonesia-expands-abortion-maternal-mortality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/indonesia-expands-abortion-maternal-mortality\/","title":{"rendered":"Indonesia expands abortion in attempt to lower maternal mortality… but they might get the opposite"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Indonesia will now allow abortions to be committed through the entire first trimester in cases of rape or medical emergency. Previously, these abortions were limited to six weeks gestation.<\/p>\n

President Joko Widodo signed<\/a> the new rule this week, which is part of the country’s push to lower maternal mortality rates<\/a>. Women pregnant from rape or experiencing medical emergencies can now undergo abortions through 14 weeks of pregnancy, though in the case of medical emergency, both the woman and<\/em> her husband have to give their consent for the abortion to be committed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe welcome the issuance of this regulation, which is a foundation for us to jointly reform and build a health system that reaches the most remote parts of the country,\u201d Health Minister Budi Gunadi Sadikin said in a statement.<\/p>\n

Though preborn children are otherwise protected from abortion in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, abortions are still committed there on a regular basis. A 2018 study<\/a>, for example, found that an estimated 1.7 million abortions were committed in Java alone. The United Nations Population Fund likewise has claimed<\/a> Indonesia 189 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, a rate much higher than other countries in the region. The United Nations has previously put pressure<\/a> on Indonesia to liberalize their abortion laws.<\/p>\n