The abortion laws in Hungary are the on the verge of a major shift as the far-right prime minister Viktor Orban passed a new decree which is due to be implemented on Thursday. According to the new regulations, women seeking an abortion will be asked to “listen to the heartbeat” of the unborn child before going forward with the process. “Nearly two-thirds of Hungarians associate the beginning of a child’s life with the first heartbeat,” stated a statement from the interior ministry according to Reuters.
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Previously, the Hungarian legislation dictated that any person could go through with abortion in the first 12 weeks (about 3 months) of the pregnancy. It was passed way back in 1992 and not many changes have been made to it. However, the situation changed drastically in 2010.
With Orban taking power, the government showed a clear shift towards “traditional family values” in the country and implemented several measures to boost the birthrate which was already dwindling.
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However, no changes were made to the abortion law – till now. With this decree, Hungary is also looking at measures which mirror the ones taken in a few US states like Kentucky and Texas where it is mandatory for women to hear the “foetal heartbeat” before going ahead with the abortion.
The decree was met with a lot of resistance from women rights activists around Hungary. “The new legislation is an extension of the government’s anti-abortion policies, aimed at boosting the birthrate”, Noa Nogradí from Patent, a Hungarian women’s rights organisation told The Guardian.
(With inputs from agencies)
