The Ministry of Justice (MOJ) yesterday withdrew its proposal to raise the financial penalties for offenses relating to illegal abortions after women’s groups voiced opposition.
The ministry said it had collected “opinions from all walks of life” since announcing the proposal last week and said that there “currently isn’t a consensus” on the existence or abolition of abortion-related offenses.
The move came after women’s rights groups — including Taiwan Women’s Link and the Awakening Foundation — separately expressed their concerns that the proposed changes to Articles 288, 290 and 292 of the Criminal Code represented a “setback” for women’s rights.
Photo: CNA
Abortion is legal in Taiwan under the Genetic Health Act (優生保健法) that has been in force since 1985, with legal abortions — such as termination of pregnancy conducted by a qualified doctor up to the 24th week of pregnancy — exceeding 100,000 cases every year in the past few years by oral medication alone, the Food and Drug Administration said.
The ministry last week issued a proposal to raise the financial penalties for illegal abortions, which it deemed “no longer in accordance with what is appropriate.”
Under current legislation, “a pregnant woman who by taking drugs or by other means causes her abortion” — referring to a woman who aborts a fetus herself — can be sentenced to up to six months or be fined up to NT$3,000 (US$93.84).
The ministry proposed raising the maximum fine to NT$80,000 — a more than 26-fold increase.
It also proposed that the financial penalty for those found guilty of carrying out an abortion of a fetus “for the purpose of gain” be raised from NT$15,000 to NT$500,000, while leaving unchanged the possible jail sentence for this offense at six months to five years.
As for the offense of causing an abortion that results in “aggravated injury,” the ministry sought to raise the penalty from NT$15,000 to NT$1 million while keeping the possible prison sentence of one to seven years unchanged.
The ministry also wanted to increase the fine for causing an abortion that results in a woman’s death by 133-fold from NT$15,000 to NT$2 million — a crime that can also lead to imprisonment of three to 10 years.
It also suggested completely removing Article 292, which stipulates the crime of a person who “publicly advertises a method or thing to be used for abortion or who offers the services of himself or another for abortion,” from the statute books, citing the fact that no one has been charged with the crime in the past 10 years.
The proposed changes aim to “protect the bodily autonomy of pregnant women and the right to life of fetuses” in line with the requirements of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), the ministry said.
However, Taiwan Women’s Link on Friday said that the ministry “actually misinterpreted and violated the spirit of CEDAW” since the 2022 CEDAW National Report published that year recommended decriminalizing abortion for pregnant girls and women.
“The offenses of abortion only punish women who have an unwanted pregnancy and require an abortion, but do not punish men who have sexual relations with the woman and cause the unwanted pregnancy,” it said. “This is clearly differential treatment of women.”
The ministry did not consider abolishing the crime of abortion in the Criminal Code, “but instead [seeks to] increase the fines, which is a step back,” it said.
The group, along with a number of Democratic Progressive Party lawmakers and the Awakening Foundation, a women’s rights civic group, held a news conference yesterday morning to publicize their opposition to the ministry’s proposals.
They also raised banners with slogans that read: “Abolish abortion-related crimes, give me reproductive autonomy” and “My body, my choice.”
Later yesterday, the ministry withdrew its proposal.
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