Abortion law in Saint Kitts and Nevis, a country in the West Indies and a member of the Commonwealth of Nations, is modelled on British legislation.
Abortion law in Saint Kitts and Nevis, as in numerous other Commonwealth member countries, is based on the British Offences against the Person Act 1861.
[1] Abortion is addressed in Part IX of Saint Kitts and Nevis's own Offences against the Person Act, in Sections 53 and 54, which state that any woman who unlawfully attempts to procure an abortion is guilty of felony and can be imprisoned for up to ten years with or without hard labour.
It states that a person who causes an abortion after 28 weeks of pregnancy is guilty of "child destruction", a felony, and is punishable with life imprisonment with or without hard labour.
[2] Saint Kitts and Nevis also follows precedents set in British abortion law, such as Rex v Bourne (1938), in which the court ruled that an abortion performed on a teenage rape victim was lawful as it prevented harm to the victim's physical and mental health.