Instruct: Given a question, retrieve relevant passages that can help answer the question.
Query: What was the first country to legalize abortion?
1918 - In the United States, Margaret Sanger was charged under the New York law against disseminating contraceptive information. On appeal, her conviction was reversed on the grounds that contraceptive devices could legally be promoted for the cure and prevention of disease.[15] 1920 – Lenin legalized all abortions in the Soviet Union.[16] 1931– Mexico as first country in the world legalized abortion in case of rape.[17] 1932– Poland as first country in Europe outside Soviet Union legalized abortion in cases of rape and threat to maternal health.[18] 1935 – Iceland became the first Western country to legalize therapeutic abortion under limited circumstances.[19] 1935 – Nazi Germany amended its eugenics law, to promote abortion for women who have hereditary disorders.[20] The law allowed abortion if a woman gave her permission, and if the fetus was not yet viable,[21][22][23] and for purposes of so-called racial hygiene.[24][25] 1936 – Joseph Stalin reversed most parts of Lenin's legalization of abortion in the Soviet Union to increase population growth.[26] 1936 – A US federal appeals court ruled in United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries that the federal government could not interfere with doctors providing contraception to their patients.[15] 1936 – The Government of Catalonia legalised free abortion during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. [27][28][29] 1936 – Heinrich Himmler, Chief of the SS, creates the "Reich Central Office for the Combating of Homosexuality and Abortion". Himmler, inspired by bureaucrats of the Race and Settlement Main Office, hoped to reverse a decline in the "Aryan" birthrate which he attributed to homosexuality among men and abortions among healthy Aryan women,[30] which were not allowed under the 1935 law, but nevertheless practiced. Reich Secretary Martin Bormann however refused to implement law in this respect, which would revert the 1935 law. 1938 – In Britain, Dr. Aleck Bourne aborted the pregnancy of a young girl who had been raped by British soldiers. Bourne was acquitted after turning himself in to authorities. The legal precedent of allowing abortion in order to avoid mental or physical damage was picked up by other countries in the Commonwealth of Nations. 1938 – Abortion legalized on a limited basis in Sweden. 1948 – The Eugenic Protection Act in Japan expanded the circumstances in which abortion is allowed.[31] 1955 - Abortion legalized again in the Soviet Union.[26] 1959 – The American Law Institute (ALI) drafts a model state abortion law to make legal abortions accessible. 1964 - The first law to legalize abortion in Norway was passed in 1964. It allowed abortion in cases of danger to the mother, and the abortion decision was taken by two doctors. 1965 – The U.S. Supreme Court case Griswold v. Connecticut struck down one of the remaining Comstock laws, the state bans on contraception. 1966 – The Ceauşescu regime in Romania, in an attempt to boost the country's population, Decree 770 banned all abortion and contraception, except in very limited cases.[32] 1966 – Mississippi reformed its abortion law and became the first U.S. state to allow abortion in cases of rape. 1967 – The Abortion Act (effective 1968) legalized abortion in the United Kingdom under certain grounds (except in Northern Ireland). 1967 - In the U.S., California, Colorado, and North Carolina reformed their abortion laws based on the 1962 American Law Institute (ALI) Model Penal Code (MPC) 1968 – Georgia and Maryland reformed their abortion laws based on the ALI MPC. 1968– President Lyndon Johnson’s Committee on The Status of Women releases a report calling for a repeal of all abortion laws. 1969 – Arkansas, Delaware, Kansas, New Mexico and Oregon, reformed their abortion laws based on the ALI MPC. 1969– Canada passed the Criminal Law Amendment Act, 1968-69, which began to allow abortion for selective reasons. 1969 – The ruling in the Victorian case of R v Davidson defined for the first time which abortions are lawful in Australia.[33]
The UN has estimated in 2017 that repealing anti-abortion laws would save the lives of nearly 50,000 women a year. Unsafe abortions take place primarily in countries where abortion is illegal, but also occur in countries where it is legal, but women cannot access it because of various reasons (conscientious objectors among doctors, high prices, lack of knowledge that abortion is legal). Indeed, there are countries where the law is liberal, but in practice it is very difficult to have an abortion, due to most doctors being conscientious objectors. The fact that is some countries where abortion is legal it is "de facto" very difficult to have access to one is controversial; the UN in its 2017 resolution on "Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: domestic violence" urged states to guarantee access to "safe abortion where such services are permitted by national law". Safe and legal abortion services are often very difficult to access by women from rural areas or from lower socioeconomic backgrounds. In 2008, Human Rights Watch stated that "In fact, even where abortion is permitted by law, women often have severely limited access to safe abortion services because of lack of proper regulation, health services, or political will" and estimated that "Approximately 13 percent of maternal deaths worldwide are attributable to unsafe abortion—between 68,000 and 78,000 deaths annually."
Soviet Russia (1919), Iceland (1935) and Sweden (1938) were among the first countries to legalize certain or all forms of abortion. In 1935 Nazi Germany, a law was passed permitting abortions for those deemed "hereditarily ill", while women considered of German stock were specifically prohibited from having abortions. Beginning in the second half of the twentieth century, abortion was legalized in a greater number of countries.
Legalization of abortion was first widely discussed in Germany during the early 20th century. When Germany became a country in 1871, section 218 of the Constitution outlawed abortion, requiring a penal term for both the woman and the doctor involved. During the Weimar Republic, such discussion led to a reduction in the maximum penalty for abortion, and in 1926 a court's decision legalized abortion in cases of grave danger to the life of the mother. Nazi Germany's eugenics laws liberalized abortion for both Aryan and non-Aryan women. Aryan women could obtain an abortion simply by demonstrating that either parent had an hereditary defect, or that the child would be born with a congenital defect. Non-Aryan women were "encouraged" to utilize contraception and abortion in order to reduce their populations.
Many abortion-rights campaigners also note that some anti-abortion activists also oppose sex education and the ready availability of contraception, two policies which in practice increase the demand for abortion. Proponents of this argument point to cases of areas with limited sex education and contraceptive access that have high abortion rates, either legal or illegal. Some women also travel to another jurisdiction or country where they may obtain an abortion. For example, a large number of Irish women would visit the United Kingdom for abortions, as would Belgian women who travelled to France before Belgium legalized abortion. Similarly, women would travel to the Netherlands when it became legal to have abortions there in the 1970s.
Abortion in Georgia is legal on request within the first 12 weeks of pregnancy. Between 12 and 22 weeks, abortions may be performed on medical grounds under conditions established by the Ministry of Health, Labour and Social Affairs. After 22 weeks, abortions additionally require approval of a three-member medical committee. The law governing abortion was instituted in 2000.
In North America, a December 2001 poll surveyed Canadian opinion on abortion, asking in what circumstances they believe abortion should be permitted; 32% responded that they believe abortion should be legal in all circumstances, 52% that it should be legal in certain circumstances, and 14% that it should be legal in no circumstances. A similar poll in April 2009 surveyed people in the United States about U.S. opinion on abortion; 18% said that abortion should be "legal in all cases", 28% said that abortion should be "legal in most cases", 28% said abortion should be "illegal in most cases" and 16% said abortion should be "illegal in all cases". A November 2005 poll in Mexico found that 73.4% think abortion should not be legalized while 11.2% think it should.
While abortions are legal under certain conditions in most countries, these conditions vary widely. According to the United Nations publication "World Abortion Policies 2013",
abortion is allowed in most countries (97 percent) in order to save a woman's life. Other commonly-accepted reasons are preserving physical (68 percent) or mental health (65 percent). In about half of countries abortion is accepted in the case of rape or incest (51 percent), and in case of foetal impairment (50 percent). Performing an abortion because of economic or social reasons is accepted in 35 percent of countries. Performing abortion only on the basis of a woman's request is allowed in 30 percent of countries, including in the US, Canada, most European countries, and China, with 42 percent of the world's population living in such countries.
In 1983, abortion was legalized in Turkey. In the past, abortions would happen in secret and were usually done in harmful and unsafe ways. Finally, in 1983 Turkey decided to legalize abortions, as they do in Tunisia, during the first trimester no matter what circumstances the mother faces. Out of all the countries in the Middle East region, Turkey and Tunisia are the only two countries in this region that allow abortions under any circumstances during the first trimester. The rest of the Middle East only allows abortions if it affects the health of the woman.
Legal protection of access to abortion has been brought into some countries where abortion is legal. These laws typically seek to protect abortion clinics from obstruction, vandalism, picketing, and other actions, or to protect women and employees of such facilities from threats and harassment.
In 2016, the country adopted regulations to curb this practice. Sex-selective abortion was explicitly outlawed in 2016. However, even before 2016, sex-selective abortion was implicitly banned, since Armenia, ever since its legalization of abortion in 1955 under Soviet law, has always restricted abortion after the first trimester, when sex-selective abortions happen, the only thing that has changed several times throughout the years being the reasons laid down by the government in order for an abortion after 12 weeks to be approved. Since sex-selection was never an approved legal reason, such abortions were always technically illegal. As such, the 2016 law explicitly banning an abortion for reasons of sex-selection was seen as redundant and unenforceable, and it came with a major controversy: the requirement of a 3 days waiting period. There has been concern that poor women from rural areas will not be able to afford to travel several times to cities to have safe abortions, thus increasing the rate of unsafe abortion in the country, especially given the high rate of abortion in general. A criticism of Armenia's policies that deal with sex-selection is that they do not focus on the culture which sees women as inferior, and which fuels sex-selection due to the way girls are devalued.
A major factor in whether abortions are performed safely or not is the legal standing of abortion. Countries with restrictive abortion laws have higher rates of unsafe abortion and similar overall abortion rates compared to those where abortion is legal and available. For example, the 1996 legalization of abortion in South Africa had an immediate positive impact on the frequency of abortion-related complications, with abortion-related deaths dropping by more than 90%. Similar reductions in maternal mortality have been observed after other countries have liberalized their abortion laws, such as Romania and Nepal. A 2011 study concluded that in the United States, some state-level anti-abortion laws are correlated with lower rates of abortion in that state. The analysis, however, did not take into account travel to other states without such laws to obtain an abortion. In addition, a lack of access to effective contraception contributes to unsafe abortion. It has been estimated that the incidence of unsafe abortion could be reduced by up to 75% (from 20 million to 5 million annually) if modern family planning and maternal health services were readily available globally. Rates of such abortions may be difficult to measure because they can be reported variously as miscarriage, "induced miscarriage", "menstrual regulation", "mini-abortion", and "regulation of a delayed/suspended menstruation".
Unsafe abortion is a major cause of injury and death among women worldwide. It is estimated that nearly 25 million unsafe abortions take place annually. Of this 25 million it is estimated that anywhere from 4.7% to 13.2% of maternal deaths come from a direct result of unsafe abortion practices, which disproportionately affect developing countries that lack safe abortion practices. 97% of these abortions take place in developing countries. Unsafe abortion is believed to result in at least 22,800 deaths and millions of injuries annually. The legal status of abortion is believed to play a major role in the frequency of unsafe abortion. For example, the 1996 legalization of abortion in South Africa had an immediate positive impact on the frequency of abortion-related complications, with abortion-related deaths dropping by more than 90%. Groups such as the World Health Organization have advocated a public-health approach to addressing unsafe abortion, emphasizing the legalization of abortion, the training of medical personnel, and ensuring access to reproductive-health services.
By the mid 20th century, many countries had begun to liberalize abortion laws, at least when performed to protect the life of the woman, and in some cases on woman's request. Under Vladimir Lenin, the Soviet Union legalized abortions on request in 1920. The Bolsheviks saw abortion as a social evil created by the capitalist system, which left women without the economic means to raise children, forcing them to perform abortions. The Soviet state initially preserved the tsarists ban on abortion, which treated the practice as premeditated murder. However, abortion had been practiced by Russian women for decades and its incidence skyrocketed further as a result of the Russian Civil War, which had left the country economically devastated and made it extremely difficult for many people to have children. The Soviet state recognized that banning abortion would not stop the practice because women would continue using the services of private abortionists. In rural areas, these were often old women who had no medical training, which made their services very dangerous to the women's health. In November 1920 the Soviet regime legalized abortion in state hospitals. The state considered abortion as a temporary necessary evil, which would disappear in the future communist society, which would be able to provide for all the children conceived. In 1936 Joseph Stalin placed prohibitions on abortions, which restricted them to medically recommended cases only, in order to increase population growth after the enormous loss of life in World War 1 and the Russian Civil War. In the 1930's, several countries (Poland, Turkey, Denmark, Sweden, Iceland, Mexico) legalized abortion in some special cases (pregnancy from rape, threat to mother's health, fetal malformation). In 1948 abortion was legalized in Japan, 1952 in Yugoslavia (on a limited basis), and 1955 in the Soviet Union (on demand). Some Soviet allies (Poland, Hungary, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Romania) legalized abortion in the late 1950's under pressure from the Soviets. Abortion has remained legal on demand in Russia up to the present day, although that may soon change. Citing demographic, economic, and moral concerns, the pro-life parties of Russia, with some measured sympathy from president Vladimir Putin, have been pressuring the government to ban abortion outright, or at least restrict its availability. In particular, the Russian Duma has been debating a bill since 2015 to remove financial coverage for abortion from the national healthcare system. 
The Soviet Union became the first country to have abortion available, on request, often for no cost. There was intense debate among government and medical officials surrounding its legalization. The main arguments used in opposition to legalizing abortion were that it would have a harmful effect on population growth or on the grounds that it was too medically harmful to the woman. By the mid-1920s, hospitals were so severely congested by abortion procedures that special clinics had to be opened to free up beds. The enormous rate of abortions being performed also caused many doctors to become concerned and restrictions started being passed to limit abortion after the third month of pregnancy and to ensure that priority was given only to women deemed too poor, single, or who already had several children. Only six months between a first abortion and a second abortion was permitted. In addition, renewed efforts were made to prosecute "babki". This had first started with the legalization of abortion in 1920 and a fair number of "babki" were caught and punished as legal abortion gave them no excuse to continue operating. During the collectivization drives in the early 1930s, this was temporarily put on the back burner, but in 1934 new, stricter laws were passed on performing illegal abortions, including a circular of the RSFSR Procuracy and extensive stories on them in the major newspapers. The circular requested that regional prosecutors step up efforts to combat unsanctioned abortion, citing a letter submitted to the Procuracy by an anonymous private citizen decrying the harm done to women by "babki" in one rural district. A month later, "Izvestiia" ran a piece condemning "the plight of young women who ended up at the abortionist's doorstep after being unable to find employment."
Abortion is the ending of pregnancy due to removing an embryo or fetus before it can survive outside the uterus. An abortion that occurs spontaneously is also known as a miscarriage. When deliberate steps are taken to end a pregnancy, it is called an induced abortion, or less frequently an "induced miscarriage". The word "abortion" is often used to mean only induced abortions. A similar procedure after the fetus could potentially survive outside the womb is known as a "late termination of pregnancy" or less accurately as a "late term abortion".
When allowed by law, abortion in the developed world is one of the safest procedures in medicine. Modern methods use medication or surgery for abortions. The drug mifepristone in combination with prostaglandin appears to be as safe and effective as surgery during the first and second trimester of pregnancy. The most common surgical technique involves dilating the cervix and using a suction device. Birth control, such as the pill or intrauterine devices, can be used immediately following abortion. When performed legally and safely, induced abortions do not increase the risk of long-term mental or physical problems. In contrast, unsafe abortions (those performed by unskilled individuals, with hazardous equipment, or in unsanitary facilities) cause 47,000 deaths and 5 million hospital admissions each year. The World Health Organization recommends safe and legal abortions be available to all women.
Around 56 million abortions are performed each year in the world, with about 45% done unsafely. Abortion rates changed little between 2003 and 2008, before which they decreased for at least two decades as access to family planning and birth control increased. , 40% of the world's women had access to legal abortions without limits as to reason. Countries that permit abortions have different limits on how late in pregnancy abortion is allowed.
Historically, abortions have been attempted using herbal medicines, sharp tools, forceful massage, or through other traditional methods. Abortion laws and cultural or religious views of abortions are different around the world. In some areas abortion is legal only in specific cases such as rape, problems with the fetus, poverty, risk to a woman's health, or incest. There is debate over the moral, ethical, and legal issues of abortion. Those who oppose abortion often argue that an embryo or fetus is a human with a right to life, and so they may compare abortion to murder. Those who favor the legality of abortion often hold that it is part of a woman's right to make decisions about her own body. Others favor legal and accessible abortion as a public health measure.
In the United Kingdom, the Abortion Act of 1967 clarified and prescribed abortions as legal up to 24 weeks. Other countries soon followed, including Canada (1969), the United States (1973 in most states, pursuant to "Roe v. Wade", the federal Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion nationwide), Tunisia (1973), Austria (1974), France (1975), Sweden (1975), New Zealand (1977), Italy (1978), the Netherlands (1980), and Belgium (1990). However, these countries vary greatly in the circumstances under which abortion was to be permitted. In 1975 the West German Supreme Court struck down a law legalizing abortion, holding that they contradict the constitution's human rights guarantees. In 1976 a law was adopted which enabled abortions up to 12 weeks. After Germany's reunification, despite the legal status of abortion in the former East Germany, a compromise was reached which deemed most abortions up to 12 weeks legal. In jurisdictions governed under sharia law, abortion after 120th day from conception (19 weeks from LMP) is illegal, especially for those who follow the recommendations of the Hanafi legal school, while most jurists of the Maliki legal school "believe that ensoulment occurs at the moment of conception, and they tend to forbid abortion at any point [similar to the Roman Catholic Church]. The other schools hold intermediate positions. [..] The penalty prescribed for an illegal abortion varies according to particular circumstances involved. According to sharia, it should be limited to a fine that is paid to the father or heirs of the fetus". See also: Islam and abortion.
The U.S.S.R. was the first country in the world to legalize abortion. For many years prior to the October Revolution, abortion was not uncommon in Russia, although it was illegal and carried a possible sentence of hard labor or exile. After the revolution, famine and poor economic conditions led to an increase in the number of “back alley” abortions, and after pressure from doctors and jurists, the Commissariats of Health and Justice legalized abortion in 1920. Abortions were free for all women, although they were seen as a necessary evil due to economic hardship rather than a woman’s right to control her own reproductive system.
In 1983, the Barbados parliament passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, decriminalizing abortion and giving women access to legal and safe abortion care. Billie Miller, the first woman to serve as minister of health in Barbados, campaigned for seven years to encourage her colleagues to decriminalize medical care for women. Passage of this new law made Barbados the first English-speaking country in the Caribbean to decriminalize abortion. 
Abortion laws and their enforcement have fluctuated through various eras. In many western countries during the 20th century abortion-rights movements were successful in having abortion bans repealed. While abortion remains legal in most of the West, this legality is regularly challenged by "Pro-Life" groups.
The policy has significant impacts internationally. All NGO's, Non Government Agencies, internationally, regionally and locally in other countries that receive United States aid cannot "directly or indirectly" offer abortion as a course of family planning. This includes but is not restricted to, "providing advice and information about or offering referral for abortion, even if it is legal in said country", "promote changes in a country's laws or policies related to abortion as a method of family planning", or "conducting public information campaigns about abortion as a method of family planning". The policy doesn't prohibit international NGO's from providing advice, a referral, or performing an abortion if the pregnancy causes a severe risk to the life of the mother or was a result of incest or rape. It is also possible for these international NGO's to answer questions about an abortion if the woman makes it clear she has decided to have a safe, legal abortion. This only applies if the country the woman is living in has abortion rights laws and the information is given "passively" instead of providing the information as "medically appropriate".
Women's reproductive rights may be understood as including the right to easy access to a safe and legal abortion. Abortion laws vary from a full prohibition (the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Malta, Nicaragua, the Vatican) to countries such as Canada, where there are no legal restrictions. In many countries where abortion is permitted by law, women may only have limited access to safe abortion services. In some countries abortion is permitted only to save the pregnant woman's life, or if the pregnancy resulted from rape or incest.
There are also countries where the law is liberal, but in practice it is very difficult to have an abortion, due to most doctors being conscientious objectors. The fact that is some countries where abortion is legal it is "de facto" very difficult to have access to one is controversial; the UN in its 2017 resolution on "Intensification of efforts to prevent and eliminate all forms of violence against women and girls: domestic violence" urged states to guarantee access to "safe abortion where such services are permitted by national law".
One option that a woman with an unplanned pregnancy may consider is abortion, the deliberate termination of a pregnancy. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), about 40–50 million abortions are performed worldwide each year. About 20 million of these abortions are considered unsafe and result in around 67,000 deaths each year. Abortion rates are similar across countries despite its being legal in some and illegal in others. In other words, just as many women get abortions in countries where it is illegal as in countries where it is legal. The only difference is that they proceed with illegal abortions, which are more likely to be provided under unsafe conditions by poorly trained providers. A woman’s pregnancy options in regards to abortion would be presented differently by her counselor, depending on the country they are in. The Mexico City Policy is an example of governments restricting this aspect of pregnancy options counseling.
In comparison to other developed countries, the procedure is more available in the United States in terms of how late the abortion can legally be performed. However, in terms of other aspects such as government funding, privacy for non-adults, or geographical access, some U.S. states are far more restrictive. In most European countries abortion on-demand is allowed only during the first trimester, with abortions during later stages of pregnancy being allowed only for specific reasons (e.g. physical or mental health reasons, risk of birth defects, if the woman was raped etc.). The reasons that can be invoked by a woman seeking an abortion after the first trimester vary by country, for instance, some countries, such as Denmark, provide a wide range of reasons, including social and economic ones.
Despite a wide variation in the restrictions under which it is permitted, abortion is legal in most European countries. The exceptions are Malta, Northern Ireland, and the micro-states of Vatican City, San Marino, Liechtenstein and Andorra, where abortion is illegal or severely restricted. The other states with existent, but less severe restrictions are Poland and Monaco. All the remaining states make abortion legal on request or for social and economic reasons during the first trimester. When it comes to later-term abortions, there are very few with laws as liberal as those of the United States. Restrictions on abortion are most stringent in a few countries that are strongly observant of the Catholic faith.