General Discussion

Indonesia will allow women to have an abortion up to 14 weeks gestation in some instances, from six weeks previously, as part of regulatory changes aimed at arresting one of Southeast Asia’s highest rates of maternal mortality.
The new rule, signed into law by President Joko Widodo this week, follows demands from women’s rights activists and health-care practitioners who argue that the previous rule was too restrictive in cases of rape, leading some women and girls to be jailed for terminations beyond six weeks.
Abortion is illegal in Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim country, with the exception of medical emergencies and rape. Even still, a 2018 study in Java, where almost 60% of Indonesians live, estimated that 1.7 million abortions took place there annually.
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Calls to decriminalize abortion in Indonesia intensified after a teenager raped by her brother was sentenced in 2018 to six months in jail for terminating her pregnancy. She was later cleared by a higher court after a public outcry.