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Rights groups hail safe abortion rule, urge more details
While rights groups have applauded a new regulation that enhances access to safe abortion, especially for victims of rape and sexual abuse, they have also highlighted certain provisions that could make it difficult for eligible women to access abortion services or health facilities to provide them.
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Stock illustration of a dictionary entry for “abortion” (Shutterstock/File)
W
omen’s and human rights groups have welcomed a new regulation that strengthens guaranteed access to safe abortion, but also underlined the importance of more detailed provisions to enforce implementation on the ground.
Issued on July 26, Government Regulation (PP) No. 28/2024 is the implementing regulation for the 2003 Health Law passed last year.
Among the hundreds of health issues addressed in the new PP are provisions mandating the right to abortion for victims of rape and sexual violence. It also categorizes pregnancies that pose a risk to the life of the mother as a medical emergency that is guaranteed access to abortion services.
Abortion remains a criminal offense in Indonesia that carries a maximum punishment of four years in prison.
But the 2009 Health Law made an exception for victims of rape. A revision to the law, which the House of Representatives enacted last year, strengthened this provision while mandating its enforcement in line with the new Criminal Code (KUHP) that goes into effect in 2026.
The new KUHP upholds the abortion exception for survivors of rape, provided that the pregnancy is less than 14 weeks old, as well as for women with life-threatening medical conditions. It also expands the definition of rape to include marital rape, statutory rape and rape of a person with intellectual disabilities.
Read also: Indonesia criticized for signing anti-abortion convention
