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Asia’s ‘progressive’ abortion laws safe, but accessibility still an issue in Singapore, Malaysia, South Korea
- While Roe v Wade is at risk of being rolled back in the US, no such debates have roiled Asia, although a stigma persists in some places
- Women from vulnerable communities and victims of sexual assault still face struggles accessing abortion, as activists warn tides of opinion can turn overnight
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Asia is often painted as restrictive and less liberal than the West, but when it comes to abortion, many Asian societies have legalised the medical procedure.
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In much of the region, there is close to no debate about banning abortions, despite the United States now attempting to overturn abortion rights.
From metropolitan societies like Singapore and South Korea, to Muslim-majority countries like Indonesia and Malaysia, abortions are legal – albeit tied to varying conditions.
Dr Subatra Jayaraj, a sexual and reproductive health expert and president of the Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia, said Malaysian laws were “quite progressive” compared to those in the US, and the debate in the US was “not relevant” to Malaysia’s context.
In Singapore, Shailey Hingorani, head of research and advocacy at women’s rights group Aware, said she had not noticed any immediate impact from the US debate on the city state.
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Earlier this month, it emerged in a leaked draft paper that the US Supreme Court had voted to strike down the landmark 1973 Roe v. Wade decision, one that guaranteed federal constitutional protections of abortion rights.
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