Abortion in Iranian legal system: a review.

Abortion traditionally means miscarriage and is still known as a problem, which societies have been trying to reduce its rate by using legal means. Despite the fact that  pregnant women and fetuses have been historically supported;  abortion  was firstly criminalized in 1926 in Iran, 20 years after establishment of modern legal system. During next 53 years this situation changed dramatically, thus in 1979, the time of Islamic Revolution, aborting fetuses up to 12 weeks of conception and therapeutic abortion (TA) during the  entire period  of  pregnancy were legitimated, based on  regulations that  used medical justifications. After  1979 the  situation  changed  into  a  totally conservative and restrictive approach and new Islamic concepts as “Blood Money” and “Ensoulment” entered the legal debates around abortion. During next 33 years, again a trend of decriminalization for the act of abortion has been continued. Reduction of punishments and omitting retaliation for criminal abortions, recognizing fetal and maternal medical indications including some immunologic problems as legitimate reasons for aborting fetuses before 4 months of gestation and omitting the fathers’ consent as  a  necessary condition  for  TA  are  among  these  changes.  The  start  point  for  this decriminalization process  was  public  and  professional  need,  which  was  responded  by religious government, firstly by issuing juristic rulings (Fatwas) as a non-official way, followed by ratification of “Therapeutic Abortion Act” (TAA) and other  regulations as an official pathway. Here,   we   have   reviewed  this   trend   of   decriminalization,  the   role   of   public and  professional request  in initiating such  process  and  the  rule-based language of  Iran TAA.