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