Law on Abortions Won't Be Amended

Bratislava, September 25 (TASR) - The law on abortions will remain unchanged as Parliament on Wednesday didn"t approve any of the four amendments the opposition has presented to it. The parties which presented the unsuccessful amendments were OLaNO, the People"s Party Our Slovakia (LSNS) and We Are Family. Independent MP Richard Vasecka also presented his amendment. OLaNO wanted to introduce allowances for pregnant women, including those who wish to keep their identity a secret with regard to their pregnancy in order to decrease the number of abortions. The party also suggested that the current text of the advice women are given to read before they undergo an abortion should be changed. According to the party, there"s often little knowledge among women on alternatives to abortions or the impacts this procedure can have on their mental health. Vasecka aimed to ban abortions lacking serious reasons and so-called abortions on request. Women whose pregnancies lead to a serious threat to their life and health, cases in which there"s a high risk that the foetus might be damaged and pregnancies that result from criminal acts would"ve been exempted. Jozef Lukac and Milan Krajniak from We Are Family wanted to shorten the period in which pregnant women can undergo abortions from the current 12th week of pregnancy to the 7th week. They argue that women would've been given a window before ultrasonography is able to detect heartbeat. LSNS wanted to cut the period down to 8th week of pregnancy and aimed to tighten up abortions on request. zel/mcs