More abortions take place after week 12 under new Danish rules

More pregnant women in Denmark have had abortions after the 12th week since the country’s abortion limit was raised, DR reports, citing preliminary figures from the Danish Health Data Authority obtained by Ritzau.

Denmark raised the limit for abortion on request from the end of week 12 to the end of week 18 on 1 June 2025.

In the year before the new limit, 16,615 induced abortions were carried out in Denmark. Of these, 364 took place between 12 and 17 full weeks of pregnancy.

In the year from June 2025 to May 2026, 16,575 induced abortions were carried out, including 537 after the 12th week. While the overall number of abortions remained at roughly the same level, the number performed after week 12 rose by about 47 per cent.

Olav Bennike Bjørn Petersen, a professor and senior consultant in the Department of Gynaecology, Fertility and Obstetrics at Rigshospitalet, said the change was not surprising.

One reason for raising the limit was that the previous limit fell in the middle of the period when pregnant women are offered a first-trimester scan. The scan, offered to all pregnant women in Denmark between weeks 11 and 14, checks for serious abnormalities and estimates the likelihood of common chromosomal conditions such as Down syndrome.

Petersen said the figures suggested that more women had waited until after the scan before deciding whether to have an abortion.

He stressed that the vast majority of abortions still take place before week 12, and said he did not expect the new rules to change that. Around three-quarters of all induced abortions between June 2025 and May 2026 took place before week eight, while almost 90 per cent took place before week 12.