The citizenry of Gibraltar, a British Overseas Territory, has voted to partially legalize abortion in a referendum on Friday.
The results revealed 62 percent of voters supported partially legalizing abortion. The legalization will occur when the Crimes (Amendment) Act 2019 comes into force to amend the Crimes Act 2011. This will take place within 28 days of Friday’s referendum results announcement.
Section 163A of the 2019 Act provides that if two Gibraltar Health Authority (GHA) registered medical practitioners believe in good faith the pregnant person is in one of four scenarios, they can terminate a pregnancy of 12 weeks or less. Abortions are allowed, first, if the risks to the pregnant person’s health, mental or physical, of continuing that pregnancy outweigh the risks if the pregnancy was terminated. Secondly, if the “termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury” to the pregnant person’s health, mental or physical.
Additionally, the new law will allow abortions if the risks of continuing the pregnancy to the pregnant person’s life outweigh the risk of the pregnancy termination, or if “there is a substantial risk that the foetus is suffering from a fatal foetal abnormality.”
Actions performed with the intent to procure a pregnant person’s miscarriage must also be authorized by section 163A.
While the move is a laudable step towards better bodily autonomy and reproductive rights in the country, the 2019 Act also contains provisions that could become a barrier to accessing abortion. Under section 163C(1), medical practitioners can exempt themselves from performing pregnancy terminations if they have a conscientious objection to abortion unless the procedure is part of saving the pregnant person’s life or preventing grave permanent injury to their health.
Prior to the referendum, Gibraltar had strict abortion laws. Under section 162(1) of the Crimes Act 2011, a pregnant person who attempted to procure their miscarriage faced life imprisonment. In addition, under section 162(2), any person who intended to procure another’s miscarriage, whether that person was pregnant or not, and who administered or caused to be taken “any poison or other noxious thing, or unlawfully use[d] any instrument or other means with that intent,” also faced life imprisonment.
