Decline in the number of abortions in Hungary

According to daily Magyar Nemzet, in the recent six years, the numbers of abortions have been declining in Hungary; still, tens of thousands of such operations are performed every year. Some women change their mind and choose to give up their babies for adoption. Many childless couples would like to have a baby in Hungary, currently, they have to wait for years for an adoption.

The figures make it clear that in 2015, 31 176 procured abortions happened in Hungary, which is a decline of 23% as opposed to the indicators of 2010. In the first quarter of 2016, the number of such operations further declined with 4,1%, as it turned out from Bence Rétvári State Secretary’s written response addressed to Ildikó Borbély Bagóné MSZP’s MP.

Magyar Nemzet said, between 2010 and 2012, most of the procured abortions – 8397, in general – were required by women between the ages of 30–34, as compared to 2013 and 2014, when it was the women between the ages of 20–24 who required most operations, 7222 one, in general.

Árpád Rucz, chief physician at the Gynaecology Department at Róbert Károly Private Clinic told Magyar Nemzet that “it is pleasing that the number of abortions is declining, education about abortion and the appearance of emergency contraceptive pills probably also play a key role in this. If possible, we would like to avoid abortions by all means, but the experience is that it is hard to push things in another direction, if someone goes to the gynaecologist’s with this decision, because there in no way she can keep the baby.”

He underlined that there are always strong reasons for deciding not to keep the baby. However, sometimes it may appear that, despite this decision at the beginning, women do not choose abortion in the end. During his praxis, the gynaecologist has met a 16-year-old girl who arrived with her mother. They asked for the minutes necessary for the abortion, two weeks later they came back that she had rather give birth to the baby. Then, the baby was given up for adoption. Unfortunately, this case occurs more rarely, and, according to Árpád Rucz, this decision demands more heavy sacrifices from the mother. In this case, for example, she was off school for a year.

For the question of how much time should a woman be given to think over her decision, the gynaecologist responded as follows: after establishing the pregnancy, the physician directs the patient with the documents about the pregnancy to nurse midwife. The nurse midwife prepares the minutes on the termination, but she hands it over only three working days later. The new embryo protection act sticks to these three days to offer the opportunity to any woman, to think the situation over again, and possibly change her decision. It may happen that pregnant women change their minds.

Procured abortions, by the way, are strictly regulated; no operation is allowed until the twelfth week. Derogation is only possible in case of justified chromosome abnormalities or serious embryonic disorder recognized during UH examination. If justified, because the mother receives – generally psychiatric – medication that seriously affects the embryo, the National Health Insurance Fund of Hungary finances the operation. In other cases, the patient has to pay approximately 37 000 Forints.

“I do not consider imposing a sort of financial penalty on pregnant women, because the number of abortions will not decline due to it, moreover, an abortion gets to everyone really bad psychically, anyway. In my praxis, it has occurred that a woman could not keep her baby, and years later, when the circumstances were given, she gave birth to more babies with my help,” said Árpád Rucz.

According to the expert, in the case of an operation performed in the early stage, in the 5-8. week, there is a minimum risk for complication during the operation, and they may occur even less some time later. In case of procured abortion in the 10th-11th week, the womb is more likely to get injured, inflammation occurs more frequently after the operation, which later can be the cause of infertility.

Many gynaecologists do not perform abortion at all. Magyar Nemzet Online learnt from Árpád Rucz that physicians can reject to perform the operation on the basis of religion.

Women who change their mind, similarly to the previous case, who could have their pregnancy not terminated, are offered several kinds of helps. Etelka Molnár Csabáné, the volunteer of “Gólyahír Association” told that, besides the association, the local child protective service, “Ágacska Foundation”, and “Bölcső Foundation” also deal with adoption.

We have open adoption only. Its essence is that the pregnant woman can tell what kind of parents she wants for her child, and the needs of the couples are also taken into account. We organize meetings, too, where the biological and the foster parents can get to know one other,” she said. By the favour of “Gólyahír Association”, approximately 60 babies get into a new family every year, but the waiting-list is extremely long, couples have to wait five years for a baby on an average.

Copy editor: bm

Source: Magyar Nemzet