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Abortion Laws in Nepal
| Law, Regulations | Legal Code (Eleventh Amendment) Act, 2002. |
|---|---|
| Indications | Life, physical or mental health, rape or incest, fetal impairment. |
| Time limit | Life, physical or mental health , fetal impairment (not specified, anytime implied), rape or incest (18 weeks). |
| Providers | Licensed health practitioner who has acquired the prescribed qualifications. |
| Location of Services | Not specified. |
NEPAL. Legal Code (Eleventh Amendment) Act, 2002, 26 September 2002.
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9. Amendment in the Law on Murder
Contained in the Principal Law.
In the Law on Homicide contained in the principal law,
(1) Section 28 has been amended as follows:
28. In case any person aborts a pregnancy, or takes any action with the intention of causing such abortion, or with full knowledge or in spite of a reason to believe that any such action may cause such abortion, and the abortion actually occurs while taking such action, he/she shall be punished as follows:
Imprisonment for a term not exceeding one year if the pregnancy was less than 12 weeks old.
Imprisonment for a term not exceeding three years if the pregnancy was not more than 25 weeks old.
Imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years if the pregnancy was more than 25 weeks old.
(2) The following Sections 28A and 28B have been added after Section 28:
28A. No person shall force or persuade a pregnant woman through intimidation, threat, enticement or allurement to abort her pregnancy, or take or cause to take any action which can lead to identification of the sex of the fetus with the objective of aborting it.
Any person who is guilty of such abortion or identification of the sex of the fetus, and those who cause them to do so, shall be sentenced to imprisonment for a term ranging between three months and six months. Persons who are guilty of abortion or instigation to abort pregnancy on the basis of the sex shall be imprisoned for one more year.
28B. Notwithstanding anything contained in Section 28 of this Law, in case abortion has been done in the following circumstances by a licensed health practitioner who has acquired the prescribed qualifications according to the procedure prescribed by HMG, this shall not be considered to be an abortion under this law:
In case not more than 12 weeks pregnancy is aborted with the consent of the pregnant woman.
In case not more than 18 weeks pregnancy which has resulted from a rape or incest is aborted with the consent of the pregnant woman.
In case a pregnancy is aborted with the consent of the pregnant woman following the opinion of a medical practitioner who has acquired qualifications according to current law that the life of the pregnant woman may be endangered, or that she may suffer physical or mental damages, or that a physically disabled baby may be born if the pregnancy is not aborted.
(3) The following Section 32 has replaced Section 32:
32. In case the crime mentioned in Section 29 of this
Law has been committed with full knowledge that the woman is pregnant, and in case a pregnancy of less than 25 weeks is aborted, the guilty person shall be sentenced to imprisonment for three months. In case a pregnancy of more than 25 weeks old is aborted, the guilty person shall be imprisoned for six months. In case the crime has been committed without knowledge that the woman is pregnant, a fine of Rs 500 shall be imposed in the case of a pregnancy of not more than 25 weeks, and Rs 1000 if the pregnancy is of more than 25 weeks.