Varför Sverige fick fri abort : ett studium av en policyprocess

Sammanfattning: The liberalization of abortion laws and the introduction of abortion on demand have been noteworthy political events in the Western world the last few decades. Sweden received a new abortion law in 1974 that allows the woman herself to decide whether or not to have an abortion up until the eighteenth week of pregnancy. The aim of this dissertation is to explain the decision of the Swedish Parliament to introduce abortion on demand by examining the political process and debate that preceded the decision. Regarding process, it can be stated that it was the youth organizations of the political parties and younger social critics of a radical bent that started the debate on abortion on demand in Sweden in the early ’60s. The Social-Democratic Government responded by appointing a commission on abortion in 1965 and by submitting a bill to Parliament, which passed it with a 2/3 majority in 1974. Support for abortion on demand grew gradually in Swedish society. The political youth organizations were the first to accept the principle during the ’60s, but by the begining of the ’70s women’s and medical organizations had also given it support. Opposition came from Christian organizations and the Conservative Party. The political parties did not take active stands on the issue, although the Social- Democrats expressed cautious support for liberalization of the abortion laws in 1972. The Centre and Liberal Parties were split when the vote was called in 1974 with opposition to abortion on demand from Christian groups within each of the parties. Despite a free vote in the Parliament, the question showed a clear left/right profile, albeit of a modified type. Other explanations to the decision emerge from a study of the arguments put forward in the abortion debate. A change occured in attitudes towards the status of the foetus as a human life as well as towards the role of the woman in the decision on abortion. A further argument that was important for attitudes to the new law was the change that had occured in the implementation of the older law, such that from the late ’60s virtually all applications for abortion had been approved.