Macedonia is soon to change its restrictive abortion law, which sparked widespread criticism from rights activists when it was adopted five years ago, the health minister said.
The new law on abortion, whose draft version is nearly complete, will put an emphasis on women’s right to choose, health minister Venko Filipce pledged.
The law will allow women to choose to have an abortion until the 12th week of pregnancy after consultation with their gynaecologist.
From the 12th to the 22nd week of pregnancy, the procedure will be slightly different and women will need to seek the opinion of a commission made up of gynaecologists and obstetricians.
“The novelty here, which is not contained in the current provisions, is that within this period we are putting the women’s wishes first,” Filipce told reporters on Thursday.
In case of an abortion after the 22nd week, cardiology and neurosurgery experts will also be included in the commission.
Filipce said officials have already drafted the new law which is currently undergoing final consultations with medical experts and human rights NGOs, after which it will be sent to parliament for voting.
The current law, which was adopted in 2013 on the initiative of the then ruling conservative VMRO DPMNE party – despite street protests by human rights activists – did not completely ban abortion in Macedonia.
But it made the procedure harder by introducing, among other things, a mandatory written request for an abortion, which could be rejected, as well as a three-day period in which the woman requesting the procedure is supposed to re-examine whether she really wants an abortion or not.
It also introduced mandatory counselling for women who wish to have an abortion.
Many activists and doctors insisted however that these procedures only complicated the process and traumatised women.
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