Status: 09/13/2022 3:59 p.m
As of Thursday, a new rule will apply to abortions in Hungary: According to Hungarian media, women should apparently listen to the heartbeat of their embryo before the abortion. According to women’s rights organizations, this increases the pressure on unwanted pregnant women.
Hungary’s right-wing government has tightened the country’s comparatively liberal abortion rules by decree. This obliges physicians to present the vital signs of the fetus to women who approach them with a request for an abortion. This emerges from an ordinance by Interior Minister Sandor Pinter, which was published in the Hungarian Official Gazette on Tuesday night.
According to this, when a woman requests an abortion, she must present a specialist medical certificate stating that “the factors that indicate the existence of the vital functions of the embryo have been brought to her attention in a clear manner”.
Pregnant women should listen to heartbeats
According to media reports, the legal formulation, which also sounds cumbersome in Hungarian, means that women must listen to the heartbeat of their embryos before having an abortion. The Interior Ministry announced on Monday that “almost two thirds of Hungarians associate the beginning of a child’s life with the first heartbeat”. Modern devices could detect heartbeats early in pregnancy and thus provide “more comprehensive information for pregnant women”.
According to women’s rights organizations, this increases the pressure on women who are already in an extremely difficult situation due to an unwanted pregnancy.
The rule is scheduled to go into effect on Thursday
Prime Minister Viktor Orban, who has been in power since 2010, likes to present himself as a champion of Christian values and the ideal of the traditional family. At the same time, he is aware of the fact that an almost comprehensive ban on abortion – as in Poland, which is governed by right-wing nationalism – would be extremely unpopular in his country.
The idea of making listening to the embryonic heartbeat a condition for an abortion goes back to the far-right Mi Hazank (Our Home) party. The group entered parliament for the first time after the election last April. Although she belongs to the opposition, she repeatedly receives encouragement and support in the pro-government media.
The regulation comes into effect on Thursday. In Hungary, there is a time limit for abortions. Women can refer to a personal crisis situation up to the twelfth week. Similar to Germany, there is also an obligation to provide advice.