ZAGREB, February 5, 2020 - Social Democrat parliamentarian Sabina Glasovac, who on Wednesday outlined the SDP-sponsored bill on medically assisted pregnancy termination procedures, said that in Croatia abortion was legal but it was neither accessible nor free.
Insisting that the proposal made by this strongest opposition party did not promote abortion, Glasovac said that abortion was often the last solution for women, and therefore the state should do everything to provide necessary health protection for women opting for abortion.
She criticised the government for not doing anything about this topic, although a two-year deadline to upgrade the abortion legislation had expired.
On 2 March 2017 the Constitutional Court delivered a ruling obliging the Croatian Parliament to pass a new abortion bill within two years, noting that it was not possible to ban pregnancy termination.
The SDP demands that all public hospitals should provide abortion procedures free of charge.
Glasovac noted that currently costs for an abortion ranged between 1,800 and 3,500 kuna.
She said that some public hospitals did not provide the procedure at all, due to the freedom of conscience clause whereby medical staff do not give certain medical services for reasons of religion or conscience.
The SDP-sponsored bill envisages penalties for medical institutions that refuse to perform abortion.
The SDP has proposed that the period in which women can have an abortion be increased from 10 to 12 weeks from conception and that minors aged from 16 to 18 be allowed to have an abortion without their parents' permission.
The SDP also proposes that the cost of an abortion, sterilisation and contraception should be fully covered by the Croatian Health Insurance Fund (HZZO).
More abortion right news can be found in the Politics section.
