Costa Rica
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*
No
No
No
No
Additional requirements
The pregnant woman must consent to the abortion, which must be performed by a physician, or if no physician
is available, by an authorized midwife.
____________
*The Law does not specify whether preservation of health includes both physical and mental health.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CONTEXT
Government view of fertility level:
Satisfactory
Government intervention concerning fertility level:
To lower
Government policy on contraceptive use:
Direct support provided
Percentage of currently married women using
modern contraception (aged 15-49; 1992/93):
75
Total fertility rate (1995-2000):
2.8
Age-specific fertility rate (per 1,000 women aged 15-19, 1995-2000):
85
Government has expressed particular concern about:
Morbidity and mortality resulting from induced abortion
Complications of childbearing and childbirth
Yes
..
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births; 1990):
National
Central America
55
140
Female life expectancy at birth (1995-2000):
79
Source: The 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.
106
Costa Rica
BACKGROUND
The Costa Rican Penal Code of 4 May 1970 (sections 118-122) permits an abortion to be performed in
order to prevent danger to the life or health of the pregnant woman when this danger cannot be averted by any
other means. The consent of the pregnant woman must be obtained, and the abortion must be performed by a
physician or, if a physician is not available, by a midwife.
A person who performs an illegal abortion is subject to imprisonment for a period of one to three years if
the abortion is performed with the woman’s consent. The same punishment is applicable to a woman who
induces her own abortion or consents to it. If the abortion is performed before the end of the second trimester
of gestation, the punishment is reduced to six months’ to two years’ imprisonment. A person who performs
an abortion without the woman’s consent or when she is under fifteen years of age is subject to three to ten
years’ imprisonment. In the above cases, the punishment is increased if the woman dies as a result of the
abortion. Section 120 of the Penal Code provides for a reduced sentence of three months’ to two years’
imprisonment in cases where the abortion has been performed with the woman’s consent to hide her
dishonour.
Reproductive health services are included as part of the primary health care services provided by all public
institutions in Costa Rica since the late 1980s. Access to these services, which include family planning,
prenatal and postnatal care and assistance to delivery, is easy and quality is high. Three quarters of the
women are users of modern contraceptive methods, which are provided nearly free of charge by public
services. In 1989, the Government approved a programme of comprehensive care to adolescents, which
includes information, communication and sex education campaigns as well as care for adolescent mothers,
provided in two public hospitals.
Source: The 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.
107