Termination of pregnancy: Petition launched to improve access to abortion in Switzerland

PostedSeptember 12, 2022, 9:17 PM

Termination of pregnancy: Petition launched to improve access to abortion in Switzerland

Santé Sexual Suisse wishes to collect 10,000 signatures so that the termination of pregnancy is removed from the Penal Code and that it is first and foremost a health issue.

Hospital structures still respond too little to the needs of the women concerned, with an often paternalistic and stigmatizing approach. In addition, termination of pregnancy remains part of the Penal Code, criticizes Santé Sexuelle Suisse.

AFP

Too often, women who want to terminate their pregnancies are discriminated once morest and encounter many obstacles in doing so. This is why the umbrella organization Santé Sexuale Suisse (SSCH) has just launched a petition to improve access to abortion in Switzerland.

The text “My health – My choice!” asks for two main points: on the one hand, that the termination of pregnancy be removed from the Penal Code and that it be considered above all as a matter of health; on the other hand, that the self-determination of the women concerned be guaranteed so that they have the right to make their own choices for their health.

One of the lowest IG rates in Europe

“Switzerland must take part in the movement which guarantees access to abortion. By taking it out of the Penal Code, it would be on the right side of history, ”explains Léonore Porchet, president of SSCH and national councilor (Greens / VD) quoted in a press release published Monday. Moreover, this had tabled a parliamentary initiative last June on this subject. “Switzerland has one of the lowest termination of pregnancy (IG) rates in Europe. This shows that we no longer need the Penal Code to regulate abortion, because IG is above all a question of health”, adds Barbara Berger, director of SSCH.

The goal of the petitioners is to collect 10,000 signatures until October 1, 2022, the 20th anniversary of the entry into force of the current abortion regulations (delay regime).

20 years of the time limit regime

Switzerland celebrates this year the 20th anniversary of the delay regime, ie the new abortion regulations. The text had been widely accepted at 72.2% in June 2002. It entered into force on 1^is October of the same year. Since then, termination of pregnancy is no longer punishable in Switzerland if it is performed at the written request of the pregnant woman within 12 weeks of the last menstrual period, and if a situation of distress is invoked.

The delay regime has clearly proven itself since its introduction, welcomes Santé Sexuelle Suisse. But obstacles and discrimination remain, she said. Hospital structures still respond too little to the needs of the people concerned, with an often “paternalistic and stigmatizing” approach. Moreover, termination of pregnancy remains part of the Penal Code, despite its status as a medical service that is part of the basic catalog of health insurance. As a result, its stigmatization and moral condemnation persist, underlines the organization.

(cht)