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Abortion in Israel
TODAY, ACCORDING TO THE LAW FOR TERMInation of Pregnancy, a woman in Israel is entitled to an abortion under the following conditions:
The woman is under the marriageable age of 17, or over 40 years old.
The pregnancy is the result of sexual relations forbidden by criminal law (rape); of incestual sexual relations; or of sexual relations outside of marriage (single, divorced, widow or adultery).
The fetus is likely to be born with a physical or mental defect.
Continuation of the pregnancy is likely to endanger the woman's physical or mental health.
In 1977, when the Law was enacted by the Israeli Knesset, a fifth clause was included-the socioeconomic clause that provided for approval of abortion if it could be shown that continuation of a pregnancy would harm the woman's socioeconomic condition. This clause was abolished in 1979 when the Likud party first came into power as part of the coalition agreement with the religious parties.
Though the abortion law has not been changed since that time, access to abortion was threatened in 1992 when the religious parties demanded the dissolution of several hospital committees, the body governing approval of abortion. Women must apply for approval of an abortion at one of the 32 hospitals committees around the country, licensed by The Ministry of Health. The hospital committees are composed of two doctors (a gynecologist and an internist or a psychiatrist) and a social worker, one of whom must be a woman. If a woman is legally entitled to...