LONG TIME COMING: An amendment to the abortion law has been mulled for decades, and in 2012 the HPA was ordered to change it

Taipei Times
Date: Dec 11, 2020
By: Kayleigh Madjar / Staff writer, with CNA

The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) is drafting an amendment to remove the requirement for married women to obtain permission from their partner before having an abortion, which it hopes to present by March, it said on Wednesday.

Under Article 9 of the Genetic Health Act (優生保健法), induced abortion by a married woman “shall be subject to her husband’s consent unless her husband is missing, unconscious or deranged.”

A petition calling for the removal of the provision was on Wednesday last week launched on the National Development Council’s Public Policy Network Participation Platform, where it had already received more than 7,400 signatures as of yesterday.

A woman’s right to bodily autonomy should not be affected by her marital status, the petition says, adding that the risks and consequences of abortion are the woman’s to bear, and therefore should not be decided by anyone else.    [FULL  STORY]