Abortion Laws in Saudi Arabia More Forgiving Than in Alabama: Report

Alabama women in need of abortion care can travel to Saudi Arabia for less restrictive rules if the southern U.S. state’s recent anti-choice law is upheld in the courts. 

That’s according to a new study by Israeli newspaper Haaretz, which compared new laws in the U.S. to restrictions in Muslim-majority countries in southwest Asia and North Africa. All have more lenient laws around abortion than the Alabama law. 

Alabama’s law, which was passed through the legislature last week and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey, a Republican, bans abortions in the state at every point in pregnancy and carries sentences of up to 99 years for doctors that perform the medical procedure. The bill followed similarly restrictive laws in Ohio, Mississippi, Missouri, and Georgia, though none of the other states went as far as the Alabama legislation. 

By contrast, there are a number of abortion exceptions in the countries Haaretz looked at, and, in the cases of Turkey and Tunisia, legal through the first trimester. 

Different definitions of “risk” appear to be in play in the countries as well. In Iran, for example, “some contemporary religious rulings support abortion in cases of rape, fetal impairment, or where there is risk to woman’s life and health.” Both Iran and Iraq also allow abortion in the case of rape and incest; in Saudi Arabia, the procedure is also allowed for women “to protect her physical and mental health.”

The attacks on abortion in some U.S. states are out of step with the rest of the world, said Leila Hessini, vice president at the Global Fund for Women.