Legal regulation of abortion in Austria

Summary:

Abortion on a woman’s request without a medical reason is legal in Austria if it is performed before the 16th week of pregnancy (within 3 months after implantation), in consultation with a physician / health care professional. Apart from this, there are no other rules, which allows us to provide the best possible advice and treatment according to individual needs.

In Austria, there is no prescribed waiting period, no prescribed counseling in a counseling center, no requirement for medical consultation, and the woman does not have to specify her reasons for the termination. Personal information will not be shared because there is no required reporting relationship with health insurance agencies or any other institution. Also, where you live has no significance. Women from other countries have the same full access and right to abortion.

In Austria, however, abortion is not reimbursed by health insurance, as is the case in most other western European countries. This means that in Austria, unless there’s an allowable medical reason, women must pay for an abortion themselves..


§97 StGB, of 1 January 1975:

(1) An act is not liable to punishment,

  • where the abortion is performed by a physician during the first three months from the beginning of the pregnancy and after a previous medical consultation; or
  • where the abortion is necessary to avert a serious danger, not to be averted by other means, to the life or to the physician or mental health of the pregnant woman, or where a serious danger exists that the child may be afflicted with a serious physician or mental defect, or where the woman was under 14 years of age when she became pregnant; the abortion has been performed by a physician in all these cases; or
  • where the abortion is performed to save the pregnant woman from an immediate danger to her life, which could not otherwise be averted, under circumstances where medical aid was not available in time.

(2) No physician is obliged to perform an abortion or to take part in it, except where it is necessary without delay to save the life of the pregnant woman from an immediately threatening danger which cannot otherwise be averted. This applies also to persons in para-medical, medico-technical, or auxiliary health employments.

(3) No one may be in any way disadvantaged because he or she has performed a justified abortion, or taken part in it, or because he or she has refused to perform or take part in such an abortion.


Explanations:
An abortion is legal if performed within three months following the nidation of the fertilised egg and if performed after a counselling by a doctor and if performed by a doctor. Following the first three months, an abortion is legal only based one the mentioned reasons.

Access to abortion is legal without a waiting period, nor an obligatory counselling in a counselling institution. Also the country of origin of the woman has no importance and women from other countries have the same access to abortion as women from Austria. Furthermore abortions are not notifiable in Austria and the names and contact details are not shared with anyone.


The legal situation for minors in Austria