Abortion in Azerbaijan is legal on request up to 12 weeks of pregnancy, and in specific circumstances between 12 and 28 weeks. The current abortion law of Azerbaijan is based on the abortion law of the Soviet Union of 1955 when Azerbaijan was a Republic of the Soviet Union (as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic), and no changes were made after Azerbaijan became independent in 1991. Between 1965 and 1987 the abortion rate used to be very high (between 20 and 28%). Since independence, the abortion rate has almost halved and relatively stabilized after 2000 (between 12 and 14%). In the 2014, 13.8% of pregnancies in Azerbaijan ended in abortion, a slight rise from the all-time low recorded in 2005 (12.1%).
History
As in all of the former USSR, Azerbaijan, known prior to 1992 as the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, was subject to the abortion legislation and regulations of the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. As a result, abortion practices in Azerbaijan were similar to those throughout the former USSR.
The description given below pertains to the situation in Azerbaijan prior to independence. Since independence no changes have been made in the abortion law.
The Soviet Decree of 27 June 1936 prohibited the performance of abortions except in the case of a danger to life, a serious threat to health, or the existence of a serious disease that could be inherited from the parents. The abortion had to be performed in a hospital or maternity home. Physicians who performed unsafe abortions outside a hospital or without the presence of one of these indications were subject to one to two years' imprisonment. If the abortion was performed under unsanitary conditions or by a person with no special medical education, the penalty was no less than three years' imprisonment. A person who induced a woman to have an abortion was subject to two years' imprisonment. A pregnant woman who underwent an abortion was subject to a reprimand and the payment of a fine of up to 300 rubles in the case of a repeat offence.
In an edict of 23 November 1955, the government of the former USSR repealed the general prohibition on the performance of abortions contained in the 1936 Decree. Other regulations, also issued in 1955, specified that abortions could be performed freely during the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, if no contraindication existed, and after that point, when the continuance of the pregnancy and the birth would harm the mother (interpreted to include foetal handicap). The abortion had to be performed in a hospital by a physician and, unless the mother's health was threatened, a fee was charged. Persons who performed an abortion illegally were subject to criminal penalties established by criminal laws such as the Soviet Criminal Code. For example, if the abortion was not performed in a hospital, a penalty of up to one year's imprisonment could be imposed, and if it was performed by a person without an advanced medical degree, a penalty of up to two years' imprisonment was possible. In the case of repeat offences or the death or serious injury of the pregnant woman, a higher penalty of up to eight years' imprisonment could be imposed. A woman who underwent an illegal abortion was not penalized.
Despite the approval of the 1955 edict and regulations, the problem of illegal abortions did not entirely disappear in the former USSR. This situation resulted in part from the government's conflicted attitude towards contraception. Although at times it manifested support for contraception, it did little to make contraception available and in 1974 effectively banned the widespread use of oral contraceptives. The situation was also due in part to a revived pronatalist approach to childbearing adopted at times by the government, which looked unfavourably on abortion. The result was a reliance on abortion as the primary method of family planning.