Anette Garpestad was pregnant with her first child and was due for an ultrasound at the end of week 17. – We got there, with all the expectations you come with when you’re pregnant for the first time, and it’s planned and desired and everything that goes with it. The midwife started the examination and gradually brought in a doctor who was to look at the picture on the screen. – It felt most like I was taking an exam, says Anette Garpestad about her meeting with the abortion board. Photo: Privat / Privat – It hadn’t occurred to us that something could be wrong. I hadn’t heard anything other than that as long as you got over week twelve, everything would probably be all right. But things were not as they should be with the fetus in Anette’s stomach. It had heart defects and other life-threatening injuries. – The chances of this child surviving outside the mother’s womb were minimal. Anna Garpestad decided to have an abortion. Since she was more than 17 weeks pregnant, she had to ask a board for permission to have an abortion. Several thousand met in tribunals Over the past five years, over 2,000 women who were pregnant between weeks 12 and 18 have met in a local abortion tribunal. Of these 2,000, 46 have been refused an abortion. There are several reasons why they are refused, says gynecologist and member of the abortion committee, Birgitte Heiberg Kahrs. – In order to obtain an abortion, the tribunal must first investigate whether the woman wishes to have an abortion. They must then investigate whether the conditions for an abortion are met: fetal abnormality, mother’s illness or difficult life situation. After the rejection in the first tribunal, the pregnant woman can appeal. But more than half of the 46 women do not, says senior doctor in the abortion register Mette Løkeland Stai. – We reckon that it is either because they have changed their minds, or they have traveled to another country and had an abortion there. Those who complain about the decision go on to a central abortion appeal board. Five different professionals sit here, and most of them get the abortion approved. Three women who were up to 18 weeks pregnant have been rejected by the last abortion appeal board since 2019, figures from the abortion register show. Anette Garpestad experienced the meeting with the first tribunal as difficult. – I was in crisis, I was completely numb. It felt like I was taking an exam. I had to make sure I understood what kind of decision I was about to make and why. Political disagreement The government wants to raise the limit for self-determined abortion to 18 weeks and drop the tribunals before week 18. There will still be tribunals after week 18, but in the bill the government wants fewer and larger tribunals. The entire left wants to raise the limit to 18 weeks. SV and Raudt want to raise her all the way up to 22 weeks. While Frp, Høgre, Senterpartiet and KrF will retain the current abortion limit. An news count now shows that there is a majority in the Storting in favor of the government’s proposal. Political commentator at news, Tone Sofie Aglen, in the news morning on Thursday 6 September 2024. She explains how the various political parties relate to the issue of whether to abolish the abortion boards, and extend the time for self-determined abortion. Who meets in the tribunal? We know little about who visits the tribunals and why. Today we have almost no statistics on this, says gynecologist Heiberg Kahrs. – Because we cannot follow up on that. The abortion register is an anonymous register. How things are going with them, we cannot find out. Head of the central abortion appeal board, Inger Økland, says she meets desperate pregnant women who want an abortion Photo: University of Stavanger Head of the central abortion appeal board, Inger Økland, has met many pregnant women who ask for an abortion. – It is not difficult to see that these women are experiencing a life crisis. They are seen in a situation that they might never have imagined they would end up in. For Garpestad, the tribunal became an additional burden. – It wasn’t like I wanted not to present that child. I really, really wanted it. The fact that you are then forced to sit and deal with it is quite brutal. Published 11.09.2024, at 15.44 Updated 11.09.2024, at 15.52
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46 women have been refused abortion in a tribunal in the last five years – news Norway – Overview of news from different parts of the country
