Rise in Abortion Applications

The Iranian Legal Medicine Organization received 792 requests for therapeutic abortion in Tehran Province during the first four months of the current calendar year that started in March, indicating 34% increase in compared to the similar period last year.

Of this number, about 400 women were allowed to terminate their pregnancies, Mehr News Agency reported. In Iran, legal permission for medical termination of pregnancy is granted only on two grounds: fetal abnormality and existence of threat to mother’s life. Valid genetic testing, ultrasound, written consent of mother, gestational period of less than 19 weeks of the fetus, besides approval by three medical specialists is mandatory for the abortion.