Does the restriction to have an abortion after 12th week violates women's autonomy right?

Pasaulyje, abortas yra kontraversiška tema, ir iki šiol sulaukianti daug diskusijų įvairiose pasaulio valstybėse. Lietuva yra ne išimtis. Mūsų šalyje, ne kartą buvo parengti įstatymo projektai, kuriais norėta pakeisti dabartinį aborto reglamentavimą, tai rodo tiek vyraujančią priešpriešą, tiek aborto temos aktualumą Lietuvoje. Šio darbo pagrindinis tikslas buvo išsiaiškinti, ar ribojimai daryti abortą po 12 savaitės pažeidžia moters autonomijos teisę. Taip pat, bus bandoma įrodyti, kad moters teisės yra pažeidžiamos neleidžiant pasidaryti abortą po 12 savaitės išprievartavimo ir kraujomaišos atvejais. Bus pateikiamas šių dviejų atvejų atribojimas nuo aborto be svarbios priežasties. Be viso to, bus išanalizuota dar negimusio vaiko teisė į gyvybę, kadangi ši teisė yra glaudžiai susijusi su moters autonomijos teise. Jos yra viena nuo kitos priklausomos, pavyzdžiui, suteikus dar negimusiam vaikui teisę į gyvybę, savo autonomijos teisę praranda moteris. Taipogi bus pateiktas dabartinis aborto reglamentavimas Lietuvoje ir kai kuriose užsienio valstybėse. Atlikus literatūros, nacionalinių ir tarptautinių teisės aktų, nacionalinių teismų, Europos Žmogaus Teisių Teismo praktikos analizę, bei palyginus keleto užsienio valstybių praktiką, prieita prie išvados, kad moters autonomija yra pažeidžiama, draudžiant atlikti abortą po 12 savaitės, tačiau ji gali būti ribojama, esant teisėtam tikslui, šiuo atveju, siekiant apsaugoti dar negimusio vaiko gyvybę ir moters sveikatą. Tuo tarpu, nagrinėjant išprievartavimo ir kraujomaišos atvejus, nustatyta, kad šie atvejai nėra tapatūs nepageidaujamam nėštumui, dėl to būtina juos atskirti ir įteisinti abortą po 12 savaitės esant minėtiems atvejams. Moteriai turi būti suteiktos teisės bei galimybės pasidaryti abortą laisvu apsisprendimu ir esant išprievartavimui bei kraujomaišai, nes tik ji viena gali tinkamai nuspręsti kas jai yra geriausia. Vertimas tęsti nėštumą gali tik pakenkti moteriai. Abortion is a controversial topic and up to now there have been a lot of discussions between pro-life and pro-choice movements in a lot of countries. Lithuania is no exception. The main problem in Lithuania is that abortion is regulated by means of secondary legislation and not by primarily. According to many legal scholars, it violates Lithuanian Constitution. Other problem, which has been mentioned in this work, is that Lithuania’s law does not determine when the life of unborn is protected. There have been a few attempts to solve these issues – the bills had been repeatedly drafted, which sought to replace the current regulation of abortion, but none of them became a law. All of this shows the relevance of the subject in Lithuania and the prevailing conflict between the people who support pro-life theory and the people who are on the other side supporting pro-choice theory. The main objective of the work is to determine, does the restriction to have an abortion after 12th week violates woman's autonomy right. In this work, there will be an analysis of the unborn child’s right to life, because this right is closely related with a woman's right to autonomy. These rights are interdependent, for example: if you give the unborn child the right to life, then woman loses her autonomy. Moreover, there will be presented a general picture of how abortion laws are distributed around the world and a few foreign countries will be analyzed a little bit in detail. And at last, there will be an attempt to prove, that women needs to have right to abortion after 12th week in rape and incest. After the analysis of literature, national and international laws, national courts practice, European Court of Human Rights jurisprudence, the conclusion was made, that termination of pregnancy falls into the content of woman’s autonomy rights and her private life. Woman’s autonomy is violated by prohibiting having an abortion after 12th week; however this right can be limited for a legitimate purpose, in this case in order to protect the unborn child's life and health of the woman. Also, United States abortion practice shows that woman’s autonomy can be violated by not only prohibiting abortion, but also with TRAP laws which make the abortion hardly accessible. Nevertheless that woman’s right to abortion can be limited; it is considered that woman must be given the right and opportunity to make a free decision of abortion, because only a woman can properly decide what is best for her. Compulsion to continue a pregnancy can harm the woman’s physical and mental health and her life. The moment from which the unborn child must be considered as a “person” and when life of unborn must be protected is one of the major problems of abortion. There are various theories of from when the life of the unborn must be protected, for example: from the moment of conception, since the heart starts beating, viability. So far, on this issue, there is no consensus. International documents, such as the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights or the European Convention on Human Rights do not protect the unborn child, because these acts do not define the concept and scope of this right. This is left for the countries themselves to determine the limits of this law. Therefore, every country differently determines when life must be protected and when woman loses her autonomy rights. Every country has different abortion laws. Countries, where abortion is available on demand until 12th week, are considered more open to finding a consensus between woman’s autonomy right and unborn right to life. There are not a lot of countries that allow an abortion after 12th week on demand. Countries that allow abortion after 12th week motivates this by stating that abortion restriction violates woman’s autonomy, right to private life, her reproductive rights and etc. In countries, where abortion is regulated with strict laws, those laws are supported by the position that the unborn child has a right to life. In these countries, the unborn is considered as a “person” and have equal rights to life, like other human beings. In most of those countries, abortion is allowed only when the risk for a woman's life or health occurs, or other reasons like rape, socioeconomics and etc. Abortion in cases of rape and incest are not equal to other abortions, because when woman becomes pregnant in these cases, she experiences physical and emotional trauma. When woman is raped, there is violation of her sexual self-determination, and if she becomes pregnant as a result of rape – violation of bodily integrity and reproductive rights. In case of incest, there is increased chance, that the child will be with malformations. Because of these reasons abortion must be legalized after 12th week when there is rape or incest