Report: US Among 8 UN Members Allowing Abortion on Demand Without Gestational Limits

EXCLUSIVE — The United States is one of the most permissive countries in the world for abortion, among only a small worldwide minority of countries that impose zero gestational limits on the procedure, according to a new report.

The report from the Charlotte Lozier Institute, a research organization that supports bringing unborn babies to term, found that out of the 193 United Nations member countries, America is one of eight that allows abortion “on demand without any gestational limits” at a federal level. The U.S. is joined by Australia, Canada, China, Guinea-Bissau, Mexico, South Korea, and Vietnam.

“Our report makes one thing clear: the United States is a global outlier when it comes to abortion,” report authors Mary Harned and Mia Steupert told the Washington Examiner. “With no federal gestational limit on abortion and abortion on demand past 15 weeks in 29 states, U.S. abortion law is far more permissive than that of most countries in the world.”

“In the 10 years since our previous analysis, we remain in the company of brutal communist countries like China who have no limits, even for painful late-term abortions,” Harned, an associate scholar at CLI, and Steupert, a CLI research associate, continued. “The U.S. should be an international leader when it comes to human rights and dignity of life.”

The report also found the U.S. is one of only 15 countries in the U.N. that allows abortion past 15 weeks of gestation and that there were only four of the 50 European member countries allow abortion beyond this point: France, Sweden, Iceland, and the Netherlands. However, none of those European countries allow abortion up until the moment of birth as the U.S. does.

While some states have moved in the direction of restricting the procedure following the 2022 Supreme Court ruling in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that there is no constitutional right to abortion, many have expanded the length of time an abortion-seeker can obtain the procedure, with several states and the District of Columbia having zero limitations.

Twenty-nine states and Washington, D.C., allow abortion past 12 weeks, which only 12 U.N. member countries also allow. In at least 19 states, the report says, abortion pill prescribers are shielded from legal repercussions even if they ship the drugs to states with restrictions.

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While the federal government does not regulate abortion, the Biden administration has been adamant about making sure the procedure is accessible at government-run health facilities run through the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense. Billions in federal and state taxpayer dollars also have gone to major abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, as the Washington Examiner reported.

“The United States should seek to move away from the ultra-permissive fringe policies of the 14 other countries that permit abortion past 15 weeks and aim to protect life at even earlier gestational limits, as 178 other U.N. member countries do — ranging from complete protection of the unborn to protecting the unborn after 15 weeks of gestation,” the report concludes.