abortions in Norway

Norway introduced medical abortion with mifepristone and in 1998. Since then it has been an almost complete shift from mainly surgical to medical abortion. In 2019, 92.4 % of terminations were performed using medication alone compared to 45.3 % in 2007 (Figure 3).

Figure 3. Abortions according to method 1998-2019. Source: Registry of Pregnancy Termination

Most terminations in first eight weeks

The majority of terminations occur before 9th week of pregnancy. 2019 figures show that 83.1 % of abortions on request took place by the end of the 8th week.

Committee-handled abortions after 12 weeks

Terminations after the 12th week of pregnancy have to be approved by a local committee and the pregnancy can be terminated if certain indications are met. Reasons for most committee-handled abortions include fetal development abnormalities, social factors and/or maternal health. 

The proportion of terminations that are carried out after 12 weeks is just over four percent. In 2019 there were 516 committee-handled terminations an almost 10% decrease from 2018 and are now similar to numbers in early 2000.

Preventive measures

A series of measures have been introduced to reduce the number of terminations, particularly among women under 20 years of age. These include information about sexuality as well as easy access to prevention. Emergency contraception without prescription is available for teenagers. Public health nurses and midwives are authorized to prescribe hormonal contraception to teenagers. Other measures include free condoms, a free information telephone service about sexual health, strengthening of the student health services and the establishment of health centers for adolescents.

High abortion figures among young adults also indicate that women for different reasons wish to postpone the time of their first birth. The average age for giving birth is over 30 years in Norway. Due to the assumption that one of the main contributing factors to reduced abortion rates among teenagers has been the access to subsidized contraception, the Norwegian Directorate of Health has recommended the same subsidizing for women aged 20-24.

International

Today, Norway, Denmark and Sweden are entitled to abortion on demand up to a certain gestational age which varies between the countries. In Finland and Iceland abortion has to be approved following a list of broad indications and by consent of one or two medical doctors. Sweden has abortion on demand up to 18 weeks.

When the number of abortions per 1000 women in all ages is compared, the Nordic countries are on approximately the same level as other western European countries.

Statistics from the World Health Organisation give the abortion figures as ”abortions per 1000 births.” For Norway, the figure over the last five years has been stable at about 225 per 1000 births. Russia and other Eastern European countries have a significantly higher number of abortions per 1000 births than countries in West- and South-Europe.