Hungary’s government tightens rules regulating abortion

By JUSTIN SPIKE
Associated Press

BUDAPEST, Hungary (AP) — Hungary’s right-wing government has issued a decree which will require doctors to present women requesting an abortion with fetal vital signs, an obligation that tightens the country’s relatively liberal abortion rules. The decree issued on Monday states that healthcare providers must provide pregnant women with “a clearly identifiable indication of fetal vital signs” before proceeding with any abortion procedure. Abortion laws in Hungary are relatively liberal and have remained largely unchanged since the procedure was legalized during the country’s socialist period in 1953. Hungary’s nationalist government has offered significant tax breaks and subsidies for families that have multiple children in an effort to increase the country’s declining fertility rate.