Public funding for abortion in countries with liberal or liberally interpreted abortion laws

Since 1976, the Hyde Amendment has limited federal funding for abortion except in cases of rape, incest, or life endangerment--restrictions that were maintained in the Affordable Care Act. We aimed to understand how US policy compares to other countries with liberal or liberally interpreted abortion laws (defined as permitting abortion for economic or social reasons or upon request).

From May 2011-February 2012, we researched online resources and conducted an email-based survey among health practitioners with country expertise to determine countries' public funding policies for abortion. Countries were categorized as follows: funds all/most abortion (including if abortion is: provided for free at government facilities; covered under state-funded health insurance; and/or free for low-income women); partially funds abortion (including if: the government subsidizes part of the costs; and/or abortion is less expensive in public than private facilities); funds exceptional cases (including, but not limited to: rape/incest/fetal impairment and for the health/life of the woman); and no public funding.

Data were obtained for all 80 countries that met our inclusion criteria. Overall, 77% of the world's population residing in countries with liberal/liberally interpreted abortion laws has public funding for all/most abortions (38 countries); 5% has partial funding (13 countries); and 18% has no funding or funding for exceptional cases only (29 countries). 23 of 36 high-income countries (64%) provide partial (n=4) or complete (n=19) funding for abortion.

The majority of high-income countries have public funding for all/most abortion. The US is an outlier in its policy restricting public funding for abortion.