Ulstein asks SP people to stop twin abortions

– Votes from the Center Party can be decisive in this matter, he says to Vårt Land.

The proposal for a new abortion law states that women will have the right to self-determined fetal reduction, also called twin abortion, up to week 18. The proposal goes further than the government’s own abortion committee and practice in many of Norway’s neighboring countries.

– I feel that it is unclear what the breakaways in the Center Party think about twin abortions. Votes from the Center Party may be important in this matter. Five votes decide a new law, he points out.

Majority

The Center Party is against changing the abortion law, but allows the representatives to vote freely in the Storting. NRK has spoken to several Sp-ers who want to change the abortion law. Ulstein hopes that more of those who support the abortion limit at week 18 will still be able to put their foot down in the case of twin abortions.

– I hope that more centrist parties will say no to the part that goes for twin abortions.

From 2016 to 2022, 127 such abortions were performed. Around a third – 46 – were selective abortions, which are based on medical conditions in the fetus.

Of healthy foetuses, there have been 43 fetal reductions of twins, 34 of triplets and 4 of quadruplets, it appears in the report from the abortion committee.

The Labor Party, SV, Rødt, Venstre and MDG, which together have 80 representatives in the Storting, support the proposal. If five from the FRP support it, that is sufficient to have the law changed. In addition, several from the Center Party have said that they will support the bill.

Not changed since 1978

According to the current regulations, a pregnant woman must apply to have her pregnancy terminated from and including week 13 up to and including week 22, an application that is processed by a tribunal.

Healthy fetuses are assumed to be viable after the end of the 22nd week of pregnancy, and abortion is therefore not permitted after that.

The Norwegian abortion law has not been changed since 1978, when the right to self-determined abortion was enshrined in law. Norway is nevertheless the last country in Scandinavia to extend the abortion limit to 18 weeks.