Israel loosens abortion regulations in response to RoeAssociated Press, Jun 27, 2022
JERUSALEM (AP) — Israel on Monday eased its regulations on abortion access in what the country’s health minister said was a response to last week’s “sad” U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade.
The new rules, approved by a parliamentary committee, grant women access to abortion pills through the country’s universal health system and remove a longstanding requirement that women appear physically before a special committee before they are permitted to terminate a pregnancy.
Health Minister Nitzan Horowitz, who heads the small liberal Meretz party, said the U.S. decision had turned back the clock for women’s rights.
“A woman has a complete right over her body,” he said. “The SCOTUS decision to negate a woman’s right to make a choice over her own body is a sad process of women’s repression, setting the leader of the free and liberal world a hundred years back.”
Abortion is widely available in Israel and far less controversial than in the U.S., but women still don’t automatically have the right to the procedure.
Under the new rules, Israeli women will now have access to abortion pills at their local health clinics. They also will no longer need to physically appear before an abortion approval committee, and the application form will be shortened and simplified.
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