{"id":322614,"date":"2024-12-06T08:50:45","date_gmt":"2024-12-06T14:50:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=322614"},"modified":"2024-12-05T16:40:25","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T22:40:25","slug":"norways-lawmakers-extend-abortion-18-weeks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/norways-lawmakers-extend-abortion-18-weeks\/","title":{"rendered":"Norway’s lawmakers extend abortion limit to 18 weeks"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Lawmakers in Norway voted Tuesday to extend the country’s abortion limit from 12 weeks to 18 weeks gestation. The new law will also allow<\/a> abortions based on sex (in other words, sex-selective abortion), which was previously not<\/em> legal, and will allow for abortions in cases where women want to “selectively reduce” twin or triplet pregnancies.<\/p>\n

Though abortion was previously limited to 12 weeks, women could request to have an abortion up to the 18-week mark \u2014 a request that was often granted by a tribunal board. With the law change, these tribunal boards will now be formed to consider requests from those that wish to abort even later<\/em>, between 18 and 22 weeks. According to CNE<\/a>, these tribunals must consist of a female majority.<\/p>\n

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(Original Caption) The needle telescope is inserted into the womb under local anesthetic. It is used so that doctors can control the attached syringe with accuracy. The blood sample is then taken from the placenta. The fetus in the picture is 18 weeks old<\/strong>. (Getty Images)<\/p><\/div>\n

This is likely because abortion has been portrayed as a “woman’s right” or a “women’s issue” instead of what it truly is: a human rights violation, robbing a human of his or her natural right to life when that preborn child is in his or her weakest and most defenseless state.<\/p>\n

The pro-life group Menneskeverd presented Parliament with a petition of nearly 60,000 signatures opposing the law change, though it did little to sway the final vote. “There are a great many of us who react to this, which is reflected in the almost 60,000 signatures we have delivered to the Storting [Parliament] before voting,” the group said in a statement<\/a>. “Surveys show that the Norwegian people are divided on the question of extending the abortion law, and the majority of women are against this extension.”<\/p>\n

Health Minister Jan Christian Vestre claimed, \u201cWe have formed a modern abortion law that reflects the times in which we live.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet, modern technology confirms that the offspring of two human beings is, indeed, a member of the human species from the moment of fertilization. A preborn child younger than 12 weeks is no less human<\/em> or less deserving of legal protection than one at 18 weeks. A “modern” abortion law that ignores biology and natural rights<\/em> is not an improvement, but a regression of human rights.<\/p>\n