Whose Right To Choose? A Comparative Analysis Of Abortion Laws In The United States, Honduras, China, And The United Kingdom

Cara S. Steinberg

I. INTRODUCTION “A woman's body is a sacred temple. A work of art, and a life-giving vessel.”1 While most women are capable of carrying fetuses, in most countries women have also maintained the option to undergo an abortion if they decide to.2 An abortion is defined as the intentional termination of a pregnancy.3 Around the world, approximately seventy-three million induced abortions take place each year.4 Around forty-five percent of those abortions are unsafe.5 The lack of access to safe, timely, affordable, and respectful abortion care has made an impact on those statistics.6 The practice of abortion has created one of the most political, moral, ethical, and socioeconomic controversies across the world.7 This article aims to compare the various legal approaches that countries have taken towards the controversial topic of abortion and the effects that these approaches have on statistics across the world. This article will give a representation through four different countries: the United States, Honduras, China, and the United Kingdom. First, it will compare the type of government that each country has, each countries' law(s) and policy on abortion, and the history of abortion in that country and how it has changed over time to what it is today. Then, there will be a brief discussion of the overall impact the different laws have on the rates and statistics of abortion worldwide. Lastly, there will be a brief conclusion about what kind of steps countries should move towards, to protect the health and well-being of society as a whole.