Legal regulations of induced abortion in Czechoslovakia/ the Czech Republic

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to familiarise readers with the legal regulations of induced abortion and to sketch the mental background leading to their approval in the Czech Republic from 1918 until now. It presents the Austrian- Hungarian law which the Czechoslovak Republic took and which was valid until 1950. It explains the communistic legal regulation, valid between 1950 and 1957. It points out the personality of the Health minister who was responsible for the legalisation of abortion in 1957. It also states modifications to the implementing regulations until 1986 when a new abortion law with the corresponding ordinance was enacted. At the end, it mentions an attempt to adjust this law in 2003 and presents some positions in the debate concerning a planned health care reform in 2008.