Abortion Anecdote in Croatian Parliament Revives Debate on Women’s Healthcare

Croatia’s flag. Wikimedia Commons.

Croatian member of parliament (MP) Ivana Nincevic Lesandric shared a personal anecdote on October 11 about her own experience with abortion during a session of Parliament. This discussion reopened the conversation on women’s healthcare and reproductive rights in Croatia.

Lesandric is a member of center-right party Bridge of Independent Lists. Her story recounts the “extremely painful” abortion, which she compared to a 15th century procedure, condemning women’s healthcare in Croatia for its shortcomings.

Women in Croatia, which is a conservative country currently in the midst of a Catholic revival after its split from Yugoslavia, face stigma and obstruction surrounding  abortion. Many doctors refuse to terminate pregnancies in public hospitals on the grounds of their beliefs, leading women to have unregistered and illegal abortions in private clinics.

A law of conscientious objection was passed in 2003 and allows doctors to refuse to perform the procedure. Moreover, very few doctors are actually certified to carry out abortions in Croatia. Balkan Insight reports that only one of every 25 doctors is certified to terminate pregnancies in Split, Croatia’s largest city, which is home to 180,000 people.

Just a month before, on September 29, thousands marched on Croatia’s capital, Zagreb,  demanding abortion rights be upheld. In 2017, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women called on Croatia to improve the quality of care provided to pregnant women and to ensure women can access services for reproductive health.

“Croatian women have a right to receive quality reproductive health services, but instead they face abuse, disrespectful care, and a range of obstacles to critical services,” said Leah Hoctor, regional director for Europe at the Center for Reproductive Rights. “The government of Croatia must take effective steps to ensure pregnant women giving birth receive medical care that respects their needs and wishes.”