Abortion in Albania was fully legalized on December 7, 1995.[1] Abortion can be performed on demand until the twelfth week of pregnancy.[2] Women must undergo counseling for a week prior to the procedure, and hospitals which perform abortions are not allowed to release information to the public regarding which women they have treated.[2]
During the government of Enver Hoxha, Albania had a natalist policy,[2] leading women to have abortions performed illegally or inducing them on their own. Eventually the country had the second-highest maternal mortality rate in all of Europe, and it was estimated that 50% of all pregnancies ended in an abortion.[2] Women found guilty of aborting their pregnancies would either be shamed socially by the Communist Party or sent to work in a reeducation program.[2]
In 1989 abortion was legalized in the case of rape and incest or if the patient was under the age of 16.[2] In 1991 abortion-by-application was introduced, allowing women to terminate their pregnancies for a variety of reasons if a board of medical practitioners agreed it was the best decision.[2] The 1995 law nullifies all previous laws.[1]
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