Abortion in Liechtenstein

Abortion in Liechtenstein is illegal in most circumstances with limited exceptions in cases where the life of the pregnant woman is at risk, or where the pregnancy has resulted from a sexual offence.

If the immediate perpetrator is not a physician, then such perpetrator shall be punished with imprisonment of up to three years; if he commits the act on a commercial basis or if the act results in the death of the pregnant woman, he shall be punished with imprisonment of six months to five years.

In a double referendum on abortion in November 2005, 81% of voters rejected a For Life proposal to prohibit all abortion – "The supreme task of the state is the protection of human life from conception to natural death and to promote the overall welfare of the People" – while 80% approved the counter-proposal from the Landtag (Parliament) to be included in the Constitution of Liechtenstein: A proposal to legalize abortion, in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy or when the unborn child was disabled, was defeated in a further referendum held in September 2011.

[7][8] In April and November 2012, the Landtag considered but did not advance proposals to relax abortion laws.

[12][13] In 2011, it was estimated that approximately 50 women a year had abortions, either illegally in Liechtenstein or abroad in either Switzerland or Austria.