Where will the abortion rights flashpoints be in 2023?

• Supreme Court ruling paves way for more state bans
• European countries seek to bolster abortion rights
• Latin America shifting towards more liberal laws

BOGOTA/LONDON - The momentous ruling by the US Supreme Court in June 2022 overturning half a century of abortion rights in the country will continue to reverberate in 2023 with more states set to usher in draconian bans.

The divisive battle over abortion rights will rage on at the local level as U.S. states seek to enshrine or curtail abortion rights in their constitutions and laws in 2023.

In Europe, several countries including Spain and France have moved to bolster abortion rights, while in Latin America, Colombia marked a new milestone in a regional shift towards more liberal laws.

Where will abortion rights take center stage in 2023?

United States

Following the Supreme Court's ruling to overturn the 1973 Roe v. Wade case that established abortion rights nationwide, about a dozen U.S. states have enforced complete or near-total bans, leaving millions of women without access to abortion care.

At least four U.S. states are set to follow this trend in 2023, according to reproductive rights campaigners.

"Several states are expected to adopt abortion bans, including Nebraska, Ohio, South Carolina ... Nebraska's legislature failed to pass a ban in 2022, but we expect a new ban to be addressed in 2023," said Elizabeth Nash, a state policy expert at the Guttmacher Institute, an abortion rights advocacy research group.

"Florida, which currently has a 15-week ban in effect, is another state where it is anticipated that the legislature may take up an earlier gestational week ban in 2023," she added.

In many other Republican-led states, abortion rights are under threat, including proposals to limit at what stage of pregnancy the procedure can take place and to make it harder to access abortion pills, rights campaigners say.

The U.S. midterms saw Democrats retain control of the Senate, while the Republicans won a majority in the House of Representatives, making the passage of national pro-abortion rights legislation challenging in 2023 and beyond.

However, lawmakers and activists in about 10 other states are exploring ways to shore up abortion access, including general election ballot initiatives and constitutional amendments.

And starting in January 2023, public college and universities in California will be required by state law to provide abortion pills to students at campus health centers.

Latin America

In Colombia, a big stride on abortion rights was made in February 2022 when the country's Constitutional Court decriminalized abortion for up to the first 24 weeks of pregnancy.

In Chile, moves to strengthen abortion rights will likely be considered once again as lawmakers in December agreed to begin drafting a new constitution.

This comes three months after a referendum overwhelmingly rejected a progressive first text to replace a dictatorship-era charter, which included constitutional changes to guarantee women's reproductive rights.

In 2021, Mexico's Supreme Court determined it was unconstitutional to criminalize abortion in the country. As a result, so far 11 of 32 states have loosened restrictions around the procedure at the state level.

Abortion rights campaigners are closely watching if Mexico's more conservative states like Chihuahua, Yucatán, Morelos, Tlaxcala, and Michoacán, will follow suit next year.

In Central America, a region with one of the most restrictive abortion laws in the world, there is little sign lawmakers will make moves to decriminalize abortion in 2023.

In Honduras, leftist President Xiomara Castro, who took office in January, campaigned in favor of easing the country's total abortion ban, but has yet to take action.

In El Salvador, where abortion has been banned under all circumstances since 1973 resulting in dozens of women imprisoned for abortion-related crimes, there are no signs the government will propose legislation to ease restrictions next year, rights campaigners say.

Europe

The tiny Mediterranean island of Malta, the only country in the European Union with a complete ban on abortion, is expected to change the law in January to allow terminations if a woman's life or health is at risk.

The move follows international outcry over a case where doctors refused to end the pregnancy of an American tourist who started miscarrying while on holiday in Malta. The woman, who had to be flown to Spain for emergency help, is now suing the Maltese authorities.

But the reform remains deeply divisive, with opponents, including the Roman Catholic Church, fearing it will open the door to full liberalization of the law.

In France, lawmakers alarmed by the rollback of reproductive rights in the United States voted overwhelmingly in November in favor of a proposal to make abortion a constitutional right.

However, the measure still needs approval by the Senate, which rejected a similar bill in September. If the Senate were to vote in favor, the proposal would be put to a referendum.

Polls show about 80% of the French population support the right to abortion.

Spain's parliament on Dec. 15 passed a sexual and reproductive health law that allows girls aged 16 and 17 to undergo abortions without parental consent.

The new law, which is now headed for the upper house for final approval, also removes a mandatory three-day "reflection" period for women who wish to terminate their pregnancy.

In Poland, human rights groups are closely watching the case of three activists accused of organising mass protests in 2020 after a court ruling introduced a near-total ban on abortion. The trio could face up to eight years in prison.

Prosecutors have separately indicted Polish lawmaker Joanna Scheuring-Wielgus with "offending religious feelings" and "malicious interference with religious worship" after she held up a pro-abortion banner in a church during the protests.

The trial of another activist, Justina Wydrzyńska, who is accused of providing a woman with abortion pills, resumes in January. She faces up to three years in jail in what rights group Amnesty International says is the first trial of its kind in Europe.

Asia

China has said it aims to reduce abortions that are not "medically necessary" in a bid to boost its birth rate, one of the lowest in world.

China, which imposed a one-child policy from 1980 to 2015, has officially acknowledged it is on the brink of a demographic downturn.

In the Philippines, newly-elected President Ferdinand Marco Jr publicly stated his support to ease the country's total abortion ban in January during his election campaign – a controversial stance in the conservative Catholic nation.

However, Marco Jr has yet to introduce policies supporting this view, abortion rights groups say.

Indonesian lawmakers earlier this month approved a new criminal code which prohibits sex between unmarried couples and the promotion of contraception to children.

Abortion remains a crime, but the new code adds exceptions for people with medical complications and rape victims.

Africa

In Sierra Leone, reproductive rights campaigners will be closely watching possible moves to ease abortion restrictions in the West African nation.

This comes after Sierra Leone's President Julius Maeda Bios announced in July that his government would draft a bill to expand access to abortion where the procedure is currently only allowed when a mother's life is at risk.

In Nigeria, Ghana, and Senegal, where abortion is only allowed under very limited circumstances, there are no signs restrictions and near-total bans will be eased in 2023, according to reproductive rights campaigners.

SOURCES: The Center for Reproductive Rights; The Guttmacher Institute

(Reporting by Anastasia Moloney and Emma Batha; Additional reporting by Diana Baptista in Mexico City; Joanna Gill in Brussels; Bukola Adebayo in Lagos; Lin Taylor in London; Editing by Helen Popper)