Malaysia – Teen Pregnancy Data Is Incomplete Without Abortion Figures — Dr SP Choong

Dr SP Choong argues teen pregnancy data cited in a Ministry of Health report is misleading because it counts only hospital births, not abortions. He says the issue must also address access to safe, legal abortion and accurate information.

By CodeBlue
5 March 2026

I would like to comment on The Star‘s excellent and timely cover story on teen pregnancy, published on March 1, 2026. However, I must point out that the figures on teen pregnancies as quoted by the Ministry of Health (MOH) only indicate the number of teens delivering in hospital. They exclude those teens who have had their pregnancies terminated as they have no data on this.

As MOH hospital policy usually provide abortions where there is risk of severe medical complications, so most abortions are provided by the private sector, but the MOH does not collect this data, unlike most other countries. Therefore, the figures can only be estimates.

continued: https://codeblue.galencentre.org/2026/03/teen-pregnancy-data-is-incomplete-without-abortion-figures-dr-sp-choong/

05.03.2026

Opinion

abortion stigma

National Population and Family Development Board

Reproductive Rights Advocacy Alliance Malaysia

South Korea: Conviction of woman seeking abortion exposes government failure to guarantee access to vital healthcare

4 March 2026
Amnesty International

Responding to today’s conviction of a woman who had an abortion later in pregnancy, Amnesty International’s Deputy Regional Director Sarah Brooks said:

“Abortion is essential healthcare and a human right under international human rights law and standards – it is not a crime. Today’s ruling highlights the impossible position pregnant people and medical providers are placed in due to the ongoing legal vacuum surrounding abortion in South Korea.

Continued: https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2026/03/south-korea-conviction-of-woman-seeking-abortion-exposes-government-failure-to-guarantee-access-to-vital-healthcare/

04.03.2026

Commentary

Amnesty International

Mother and Child Health Act

Indonesia – Abortion limits in KUHP ignite women’s rights debate Maretha Uli

The Jakarta Post
Tue, March 3, 2026

Women’s rights groups have criticized the country’s new Criminal Code (KUHP) for continuing to criminalize abortion except in cases of rape or medical necessity, calling the law a setback for women’s reproductive rights and bodily autonomy.

At a recent discussion to commemorate the International Women’s Day this month, speakers highlighted how restrictive abortion regulations continue to limit women’s control over their own bodies.

Continued: https://www.thejakartapost.com/indonesia/2026/03/03/abortion-limits-in-kuhp-ignite-womens-rights-debate.html

03.03.2026

News

abortion law reform

Indonesia criminal code

International Women's Day

Chinese Authorities Repatriate Defectors Amid Abuses, Forced Abortions

NKDB report reveals systematic violence, forced abortions against repatriated North Korean defectors

By Jang Yoo
March 2, 2026

A report has emerged detailing testimonies from North Korean defectors who claim that Chinese authorities arrest them, detain them in North Korea-China border detention centers, and subject them to indiscriminate violence. According to the Database Center for North Korean Human Rights (NKDB), these defectors, upon repatriation to North Korea, are detained in border security facilities and face further abuse, including forced abortions, infanticide, and beatings. The NKDB, a North Korean human rights organization, compiled the report, titled *‘The Forced Repatriation System of North Korean Defectors in China by North Korea-China Agencies’*, based on interviews with over 100 individuals arrested by Chinese authorities between 2000 and 2025, repatriated to North Korea, and later defected again, or former North Korean security officials.

Continued: https://www.chosun.com/english/national-en/2026/03/02/TJXMUBBSWZBVVFLOQ47LQE4PYA/

02.03.2026

News

forced abortion

NKDB

North Korean Human Rights

The Forced Repatriation System of North Korean Defectors in China by North Korea-China Agencies

Korean court to rule on abortion case as legal void turns pregnancy termination into murder trial

01 Mar. 2026
KIM JU-YEON

In a country with no abortion law since 2021, a woman terminated a 36-week pregnancy and now faces a murder conviction. Civic groups are urging a Seoul court to find her not guilty as she awaits a verdict on Wednesday.

The incident began with a video uploaded in June 2024, in which the woman, surnamed Kwon, documented terminating her pregnancy at 36 weeks. Public shock and an online witch hunt followed. Kwon deleted the video, but the controversy escalated into a police investigation after the Ministry of Health and Welfare referred the case to authorities.

Continued: https://koreajoongangdaily.joins.com/news/2026-03-01/national/socialAffairs/Korean-court-to-rule-on-abortion-case-as-legal-void-turns-pregnancy-termination-into-murder-trial/2534121

01.03.2026

News

Center for Sexual Rights and Reproductive Justice

India’s abortion law and the Chandrachud conundrum

Two conflicting decisions authored by former Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud have created a doctrinal puzzle over whether foetal viability or reproductive autonomy should prevail in late-term abortion cases.

Feb 18, 2026
V.Venkatesan

On February 6, 2026, a two-judge bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justice B.V. Nagarathna and Justice Ujjal Bhuyan permitted medical termination of a 30-week pregnancy, overturning a Bombay High Court order that had relied on a 2023 Supreme Court precedent to deny permission. The High Court had invoked X v. Union of India (2023 INSC 919), a three-judge bench decision authored by then Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud, which had refused termination of a 26-week pregnancy of a married woman. Justice Nagarathna relied instead on a different 2024 three-judge bench decision, also authored by then Chief Justice Chandrachud, which had initially permitted termination, before the parents withdrew their consent, thus leading to recall of the earlier order.

Continued: https://frontline.thehindu.com/the-nation/supreme-court-chandrachud-bvnagarathna-abortion-ruling-2026/article70647595.ece

Nepal – Rights activists urge full decriminalisation of abortion

By Ram Kumar Kamat
Feb 16, 2026

KATHMANDU – Shradha Adhikari, who is a nurse with Sunaulo Parivar Nepal clinic in Kathmandu that provides reproductive health services, including safe abortion, feels pride for having an opportunity to providing safe abortion services to women and girls who would otherwise have opted for unsafe practices leading to risk of her life.

She, however, lives in constant fear of facing criminal cases for providing abortion service. Some of my friends, who have provided safe abortion services, have been asked to report to police or record their statement in the court and I always fear that I might face the same situation, Adhikari added.

Continued: https://thehimalayantimes.com/ampArticle/1036749

India – Probe ordered into 1,499 abortions registered in Eluru district in 2025

Collector K. Vetri Selvi directs Police, Medical and Health departments to deploy decoy parties and register cases against scanning centres violating the PCPNDT Act

February 15, 2026
Rajulapudi Srinivas

Eluru district registered 1,499 abortions in 2025, according to the Medical and Health Department, and the Collector has ordered a probe into the incidents.

The district has 115 scanning centres, including 102 private diagnostic centres, said officials from the department at a recently held meeting to review the enforcement of the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994.

District Collector K. Vetri Selvi directed the Police and the Medical and Health Department officials to take all steps for a stricter enforcement of the Act. “The sex ratio is 934:1,000 in Eluru district, which is alarming. Those violating the PCPNDT Act should be booked,” the Collector said.

Continued: https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/andhra-pradesh/probe-ordered-into-1499-abortions-registered-in-eluru-district-in-2025/article70635520.ece

15.02.2026

News

K. Vetri Selvi

PCPNDT Act

Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques Act

sex selection abortion

Sri Lanka – End the silence on abortion law reform

Editorial
11 Feb 2026

Sri Lanka continues to live with one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, rooted in sections of the Penal Code enacted in 1883. This colonial-era law criminalises abortion in almost all circumstances, allowing it only when the life of the pregnant woman is at risk. Nearly 150 years later, the country is still governed by legal assumptions formed in a very different world. The cost of this inaction is borne by women and girl children, particularly survivors of rape, victims of incest, and those forced to carry pregnancies with fatal foetal abnormalities.

Calls to reform this law are not new, nor are they reckless. They have emerged repeatedly over decades, led by medical professionals, legal scholars and public health experts, who confront the human consequences of the law every day. Academic research published by the Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka and scholars writing in local medical and legal journals consistently show that criminalisation does not prevent abortion. It only pushes it underground, increasing the risk of physical harm, psychological trauma and death.

Continued: https://www.themorning.lk/articles/EVIAFfyhzQpIICtfVhrp

11.02.2026

Editorial

abortion law reform

Family Planning Association of Sri Lanka

fatal foetal abnormality

Law Commission of Sri Lanka

maternal morbidity

maternal mortality

National Action Plan for Human Rights

Nepal – Legal safeguards fail to curb abortion prosecution

Nepal’s abortion law protects rights on paper but women still risk arrest and harassment.

Aarya Chand
February 8, 2026

Kalpana, a resident of Siraha, was not seeking to abort the child. She was seeking medical care.

After a miscarriage, Kalpana, who the Post is identifying with a pseudonym to protect her privacy, was taken to a hospital for treatment. Instead, she was accused of having undergone an illegal abortion. The police were informed and she was arrested.

Months later, Siraha District Court cleared her of the charges by declaring that what had actually occurred was a natural miscarriage.

Continued: https://kathmandupost.com/national/2026/02/08/legal-safeguards-fail-to-curb-abortion-prosecution