Republic of Moldova
ABORTION POLICY
Grounds on which abortion is permitted:
To save the life of the woman
To preserve physical health
To preserve mental health
Rape or incest
Foetal impairment
Economic or social reasons
Available on request
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
Additional requirements:
An abortion requires the consent of the pregnant woman; it is authorized if performed by a licensed
physician in a hospital or other recognized medical institution. Abortion is available on request during the
first 12 weeks of gestation. Thereafter, induced abortion is available within 28 weeks from conception on
judicial, genetic, vital, broad medical and social grounds, as well as for personal reasons with the special
authorization of a commission of local physicians.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CONTEXT
Government view on fertility level:
Satisfactory
Government intervention concerning fertility level:
No intervention
Government policy on contraceptive use:
Direct support provided
Percentage of currently married women using
modern contraception (aged 15-44, 1997):
50
Total fertility rate (1995-2000):
1.8
Age-specific fertility rate (per 1,000 women aged 15-19, 1995-2000):
32
Government has expressed particular concern about:
Morbidity and mortality resulting from induced abortion
Complications of childbearing and childbirth
Yes
Yes
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births, 1990):
National
Developed countries
..
27
Female life expectancy at birth (1995-2000):
72.0
Source: Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations
Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.
49
Republic of Moldova
BACKGROUND
As was the case with all of the former Soviet republics, the Republic of Moldova, known prior to 1992 as
the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic, observed the abortion legislation and regulations of the former
Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. As a result, abortion practices in the Republic of Moldova were similar
to those throughout the former USSR.
The description given below pertains to the situation in the Republic of Moldova prior to independence.
Since independence there has been no change in the abortion law.
The Soviet Decree of 27 June 1936 prohibited the performance of abortions except in cases of danger to
life, serious threat to health, or the existence of a serious disease that could be inherited from the parents. The
abortion had to be performed in a hospital or maternity home. Physicians who performed abortions outside a
hospital or without the presence of one of these indications were subject to one to two years’ imprisonment. If the
abortion was performed under unsanitary conditions or by a person with no special medical education, the
penalty was no less than three years’ imprisonment. A person who induced a woman to have an abortion was
subject to two years’ imprisonment. A pregnant woman who underwent an abortion was subject to a reprimand
and the payment of a fine of up to 300 roubles in the case of a repeat offence.
In its Decree of 23 November 1955, the Government of the former USSR repealed the general prohibition
on the performance of abortions contained in the 1936 Decree. Other regulations issued in 1955 specified that
abortions could be performed freely during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy if no contraindication existed
and after that point when the continuance of the pregnancy and the birth would harm the mother (interpreted
to include foetal handicap). The abortion had to be performed in a hospital by a physician and, unless
performed in cases of a threat to the mother’s health, a fee was charged. Persons who performed an abortion
illegally were subject to criminal penalties established by criminal laws such as the Criminal Code. For
example, if the abortion was not performed in a hospital, a penalty of up to one year’s imprisonment could be
imposed, and if it was performed by a person without an advanced medical degree, a penalty of up to two
years’ imprisonment was possible. In the case of repeat offences or the death or serious injury of the pregnant
woman, a higher penalty of up to eight years’ imprisonment could be imposed. A woman who underwent an
illegal abortion was not penalized.
Despite the approval of the 1955 Decree and regulations, the problem of illegal abortions did not entirely
disappear in the former Soviet Union. This situation resulted in part from the Government’s conflicted attitude
towards contraception. Although, at times, it manifested support for contraception, it did little to make
contraception available and in 1974 effectively banned the widespread use of oral contraceptives. The
situation was also due in part to a revived pronatalist approach to childbearing adopted at times by the
Government, which looked unfavourably on abortion. The result was a reliance on abortion as the primary
method of family planning.
Concerned with the high rate of illegal abortions, the Government in 1982 issued a decree allowing
abortions for health reasons to be performed through the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy. Continuing this
approach of increasing the circumstances under which legal abortions were available, on 31 December 1987 it
issued an order setting out a broad range of non-medical indications for abortions performed on request
Source: Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations
Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.
50
Republic of Moldova
through the twenty-eighth week of pregnancy. These included the death of the husband during pregnancy;
imprisonment of the pregnant woman or her husband; deprivation of maternity rights; multiparity (the number
of children exceeds five); divorce during pregnancy; pregnancy following rape; and child disability in the
family. Moreover, the order provided that, with the approval of a commission, an abortion could be
performed on any other grounds.
This extension of the grounds for abortion after the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, combined with the
ambivalent attitude of the Government towards contraception, led to a dramatic increase in the number of
officially reported abortions.
After Moldova’s independence, an overall decline in health care services was registered. High rates of
maternal and infant mortality as well as complications from abortions resulted. Abortion continued to be
favoured as a tool of birth spacing and fertility control because of shortages of high-quality modern
contraceptives, a reliance upon traditional methods, a lack of knowledge of family planning among couples
and the absence of adequate training for physicians, nurses, teachers and other specialists.
In 1989, the Moldavian Soviet Socialist Republic registered an abortion rate of 93.0 per 1,000 women
aged 15-44 years, one of the highest rates in the former Soviet Union. The actual figure was much higher,
because this total did not include most abortions performed in departmental health services and commercial
clinics, early vacuum aspirations and self-induced abortions. As in other Soviet successor States, the abortion
rate fell throughout the 1990s, to 50 abortions per 1,000 women in 1994, and to 38.8 in 1996. The Government
reported a further decline to 30.8 abortions per 1,000 in 1998. In the same period, the use of modern
contraception increased to 50 per cent of all sexually active women, suggesting that the use of abortion as a
tool of fertility control is decreasing. Moldova has a total fertility rate of 1.8 and a population growth rate of
0.02 per cent for the period 1995-2000.
Source: Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations
Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.
51