Austria envies Great Britain:

Introduced by Empress Maria Theresa, abolished by King Charles

Only a few weeks ago, the British king signed off on a significant piece of legislation: he approved a law which dictates that women can no longer be prosecuted for their own abortions. While the fundamental prohibition of abortion remains in place, as do regulations for doctors or other third parties, it no longer applies to the woman herself.

After decades of effort, this has resulted, at long last, in the disapplication of pertinent sections of an 1861 regulation in Great Britain (the “Offences against the Person Act”). In Sweden, too, a woman can no longer be punished for having an abortion, and in France, the right to an abortion is even enshrined in the constitution.

The situation is different in Austria. As has been the case since 1768, women who perform abortions themselves still face legal penalties – currently up to one year in prison. Meanwhile, abortion pills are now available online and, in countries like India, have long been available without a prescription (Unwanted Kit®). This allows women to perform medical abortions themselves if necessary, for example, if they cannot find a doctor to do so, as is the case in large parts of Austria.

Spontaneous abortion is akin to medical abortion.

Approximately one third of all pregnancies end spontaneously in the first 12 weeks, and often unnoticed because it is still so early. A medical abortion is medically identical to a spontaneous abortion and is indistinguishable from one, which can lead to false allegations by the police, as indeed happens frequently in England, in fact: in the last five years alone, approximately 100 women were suspected of carrying out illegal abortions, six of whom were brought to court, and one of whom was even imprisoned. These figures show that the vast majority of the investigated cases were miscarriages. To verify this, the police even accessed the personal menstrual records of the women in question. It is easy to imagine the emotional and other distress these proceedings caused the already burdened women.
 

Concrete action is lacking in Austria.

The law in Austria permitting abortion within the first three months of pregnancy, which has been in place since 1975, merely constitutes an exemption, not subject to prosecution, from the general ban on abortion, provided the woman meets certain conditions (the abortion must be performed by a doctor, whom the woman must pay). It is a kind of act of clemency by the justice system and is perceived by women as a massive restriction of their autonomy in one of the most intimate areas of their lives.

More than 100 years ago already, Social Democratic member of the National Council Adelheid Popp had already made repeated – ​​but unsuccessful – demands that abortions only be considered a punishable offence when performed against the woman in question’s will. This has now been implemented in England. “This demand of Popp’s already says it all, and the Austrian Parliament is called upon to implement this important demand and, after 258 years, finally put an end to these shameful criminal provisions,” appealed the gynaecologist Fiala to the members of parliament.

Since parliament has been negligent in this regard for over 100 years and denies women their essential right to autonomy, two popular petitions have been launched as extra-parliamentary initiatives: Strike the abortion sections from the penal code and Make the abortion pill over the counter.
 

Sources:

• College of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare celebrates a historic step forward for women’s rights and abortion access: https://www.cosrh.org/Public/News/Articles/a-historic-step-forward-for-womens-rights-and-abortion-access.aspx
• Success! Decriminalisation of abortion and historical pardons for women become law: https://humanists.uk/2026/04/29/success-decriminalisation-of-abortion-and-historic-pardons-for-women-become-law/
• Tonia Antoniazzi, MP for Gower: https://www.instagram.com/toniaantoniazzimp/reel/DXKIrhekuBi/?hl=en
• https://www.derlangearmderkaiserin.at/
• www.womenonweb.org
• https://muvs.org/media/filer_public/55/2d/552d370d-a8e7-4d89-b645-494b4f9e267a/popp-kern-web-2.pdf
• https://muvs.org/en/topics/pioneers/adelheid-popp-1869-1939-en/
• Two popular petitions on women’s autonomy: www.bevormundung-is.org

2026 05 27