Abortion in the Czech Republic is legally allowed up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, with medical indications up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, in case of grave problems with the fetus at any time. Those performed for medical indications are covered by public health insurance, but, otherwise abortion is relatively affordable in the Czech Republic. In Czech, induced abortion is referred to as interrupce or umělé přerušení těhotenství, often colloquially potrat.
History
In 1957 abortions were legalized in Czechoslovakia, although with restrictions that depended on the current policy of the government. In 1986 the restrictions were lifted resulting in growth of the number of abortions. Since 1993, abortions for non-medical reasons have not been paid for by the public health system. The absolute peak of the number of abortions was reached in 1990 at over 100,000 per year, but has declined steadily down since then, reaching less than 1/3 of the peak level in 2004. Reasons for this decrease have included the wider availability of contraception and better sex education. Medical abortion was registered in 2013.
Statistics
Total number of abortions in 2009 was 40 528 of which 14 629 were spontaneous abortions, 24 636 induced abortions of which 77% were "mini-interruptions". 1,300 ectopic pregnancies were aborted. Total abortions per woman is 0.53, induced abortions is 0.34. , the abortion rate was 10.7 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years. Regionally, the highest abortion ratio is in northern and north-western Bohemia due the structure of the population. The lowest ratios are in rural districts of southern Moravia and Bohemian-Moravian Highlands. Abortion ratios in large industrial cities are generally higher compared to small towns and the countryside. Married women form the largest segment but their ratio is decreasing in favour of unmarried young women. Women with tertiary levelof education have about 6% of induced abortions. In 2009 7.5% of the women are foreigners living in the Czech Republic. Official statistics about abortion tourism do not exist but the numbers are estimated to be low.
An April 2003 CDC/ORC Macro report examined opinions on abortion among women aged 15 to 44, asking, "Do you think that a woman always has the right to decide about her pregnancy, including whether to have an abortion?" In 2003, 85% of Czechs surveyed thought a woman always had the right to an abortion and 15% did not. Of those 15%, 91% believed abortion was acceptable in cases of life endangerment, 74% in cases of fetal defects, 72% in cases of risk to health, 71% in cases of rape, 16% if the family could not financially support a child, and 8% if the woman was unmarried.
A May 2005 Euro RSCG/TNS Sofres poll examined attitudes toward abortion in 10 European countries, asking polltakers whether they agreed with the statement, "If a woman doesn't want children, she should be allowed to have an abortion". 66% of Czechs replied "very much", 15% replied "a little", 8% replied "not really", and replied 10% "not at all". Support for the availability of abortion in the Czech Republic, at 81%, was the highest out of all the nations featured in the poll.
A May 2007 CVVM poll found that 72% of Czechs believe that abortion should be allowed "at the request of the woman", 19% that it should be allowed for "societal reasons", 5% that it should be allowed only if "a woman’s health is at risk", 1% that it should be "banned".
In a Pew Research survey from 2013, when asked about morality of abortion, 49% of respondents in the Czech Republic said that abortion is morally acceptable and 18% said it was unacceptable, and 18% that it was not a moral issue.
