Abortion legislation

Legislation timeline

  • 1975: Abortion is punishable with 1 year prison. But punishment is exempt if done by a doctor after consultation and within the 16 weeks of pregnancy (LMP)

Source: IPPF European Network - Updated January 2012 (http://www.ippfen.org/), Österreichische Gesellschaft für Familienplanung (ÖGF) (http://www.oegf.at)

Abortion conditions

Ground Gestational limit
To save a woman’s life No limit
Because of foetal impairment No limit
To preserve a woman’s mental health
To preserve a woman’s physical health
For economic and social reasons
On request 16 weeks from LMP

Source: https://www.jusline.at/gesetz/stgb/paragraf/96, IPPF European Network - Updated January 2012 (http://www.ippfen.org/), Österreichische Gesellschaft für Familienplanung (ÖGF) (http://www.oegf.at)

Legal conditions

  • Pre-abortion counselling by a physician
  • Specific conditions due to COVID-19: Federal Office for Safety in Health Care has granted approval that all gynaecologists can prescribe the Mifegyne® abortion pill

Specific conditions for minors

  • None – A minor does not need the consent of the parents if the doctor considers her decision legitimate.

Other

  • Abortion is not covered by health insurance nor social security.

Source:

  • Gynmed Clinic
  • IPPF European Network – Updated January 2012 (http://www.ippfen.org/)
  • Österreichische Gesellschaft für Familienplanung (ÖGF) (http://www.oegf.at)

Practical conditions

Medical abortion conditions

Place Prescription 1st drug taken 2nd drug taken
OB/GYN department of a hospital/clinic No In clinics/hospitals and at gynaecologists' practice At the woman's choice either at home or in the clinic/in the office of the OB/GYN
Another physician office No Not specified
Midwife office No Not specified
Abortion centre/clinic
At home No Yes

Source: Gynmed Clinic, Vienna, www.gynmed.at, IPPF European Network - Updated January 2012 (http://www.ippfen.org/), Österreichische Gesellschaft für Familienplanung (ÖGF) (http://www.oegf.at)

Mifepristone is dispensed in clinics/hospitals and at gynaecologists' practice but not in GP practice.

Mandatory pre-abortion examinations

  • None

Involved healthcare professionals

  • Surgical abortion: obstetrician/gynaecologist (OB/GYN) or another physician
  • Medical abortion: OB/GYN or another physician

Other

  • The law stipulates that abortion is legal if done by a medical doctor, no further specification or regulation applies. However mifepristone is only dispensed to specialist in OB/Gyn or clinics/hospitals. It is not available in pharmacies.

 

Source:

  • Gynmed Clinic, Vienna, www.gynmed.at
  • IPPF European Network – Updated January 2012 (http://www.ippfen.org/)
  • Österreichische Gesellschaft für Familienplanung (ÖGF) (http://www.oegf.at)

Abortion statistics

Abortion rates per 1,000 women aged 15-49

Unfortunately we have no data for this country.

Source: Gynmed Clinic, Vienna

No specific data available as abortion on demand is neither notifiable nor covered by health insurance. Estimates are 25,000 to 30,000 abortions per year. Any doctor is legally entitled to do abortions. No national data exist. Detailed data only from Salzburg where the main hospital is the main provider in the region with reliable data which are representative for the whole country.

Overall number of induced abortions

Unfortunately we have no data for this country.

Source: Gynmed Clinic, Vienna

No specific data available as abortion on demand is neither notifiable nor covered by health insurance and can be done by any doctor

Abortion ratio per 1.000 live births: ()

Source: Gynmed Clinic, Vienna

No specific data available as abortion on demand is neither notifiable nor covered by health insurance and can be done by any doctor

Abortions performed “on request”: % ()

Source: Gynmed Clinic, Vienna

The vast majority are done on request. The number of abortions for an indication is around 200/year.

Overall number of induced abortions vs. medical abortions

Unfortunately we have no data for this country.

Source: Gynmed Clinic, Vienna

No specific data available as abortion on demand is neither notifiable nor covered by health insurance and can be done by any doctor

Induced abortions per gestational age (2023)

Source: Data from Gynmed Ambulanz in the Salzburg Hospital. Can be taken as representative for Austria

Place of abortion ()

Unfortunately we have no data for this country.

Source: Gynmed Clinic, Vienna

No specific data available as abortion on demand is neither notifiable nor covered by health insurance and can be done by any doctor

Characteristics of women having induced abortion

Distribution of induced abortion according to women age (2023)

Source: Gynmed Ambulanz in the University Hospital Salzburg

Data from the main provider in the region. Can be taken as representative for Austria

In 2023, among women who had induced abortion:

  • 54% had at least 1 child.

Source:

  • Gynmed Ambulanz in the University Hospital Salzburg

Fertility and contraception

Fertility rates in women aged 15-49

Source: https://www.statistik.at/statistiken/bevoelkerung-und-soziales/bevoelkerung/demographische-indikatoren-und-tafeln/demographische-querschnittsindikatoren

Women age at first birth

  • 30.3 years of age (2023)

Overall contraception data

79% of women aged 15-49 used a contraceptive method (2019):

  • 34% used oral contraceptive
  • 10% used intra-uterine device (IUD)
  • 35% used another contraception method

Pre-abortion contraception

  • Percentage of women who had abortion had a contraceptive method before abortion procedure: missing data

Source:

  • https://www.statistik.at/web_en/statistics/PeopleSociety/population/demographic_indicators/index.html
  • https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/announcement/2023/07/20230720MedMerkmaleGeburten2022EN.pdf
  • https://www.statistik.at/statistiken/bevoelkerung-und-soziales/bevoelkerung/geburten/soziodemographische-merkmale-der-eltern-von-geborenen
  • Austrian Contraceptive Survey 2019, www.verhuetungsreport.at

Country-specific characteristics

Any physician can perform abortion but antiprogesterone (Mifegyne®) is only distributed to hospitals and clinics, not to individual physician offices. Most physicians who perform surgical abortions would like to offer medical abortion but are not legally entitled to order the drug. As only very few hospitals (6 out of 168) perform abortions, medical abortion access is limited.

Mifepristone can be bought by gynaecologists and given to patients, but is still not available at the pharmacy.

Physicians have the right to refuse to perform abortions claiming conscientious objection. No physician is obliged to perform an abortion or to take part in it, except where it is necessary without delay to save the life of the pregnant woman from an acute danger which cannot otherwise be averted.
This provision has a huge negative impact on access to abortion. Outside the major cities there is no abortion provision.

Women have to pay around 330-1,000 € for medical or surgical abortion, except in the city of Vienna where women in social need (called “Mindestsicherung”) get all costs covered. Abortion due to medical reasons is reimbursed to resident women if performed in a public hospital.

Source:

  • Gynmed Clinic, Vienna, www.gynmed.at
  • Austrian Contraceptive Survey, www.verhuetungsreport.at
  • Statistik Austria, www.statistik.at
  • IPPF European Network – Updated January 2012 (http://www.ippfen.org/)
  • Österreichische Gesellschaft für Familienplanung (ÖGF) (http://www.oegf.at)

Download statistics of Austria

The statistics presented are freely accessible and may be used, copied, displayed or distributed provided that their source is given. You can choose whether you prefer to download the statistics of the last 10 years or the full data set. Press one of the buttons to generate a report in PDF format for this country.

Last 10 years
Full data set

Abbreviations: EFTA = European Free Trade Association | EU = European Union | IUD = intra-uterine device | LARC = long-acting reversible contraception | LMP = last menstruation period | GYN = gynaecologist | HCP = health care professional | hCG = human chorionic gonadotropin | HIV = human immunodeficiency virus | OB = obstetrician | Rh = Rhesus | US = ultrasound

A special thanks to our correspondents for contributing in data collection.
Please contact info@exelgyn.com if you have additional data or would like to comment information

Page last updated: 11 December 2024