More Autonomy, More Access: Denmark’s New Abortion Law: LWID S3E27 (replay)

Abortion rights in Denmark expand boldly. Earlier this year, Denmark made history on abortion access. In this highlight from Season 3, Fionn and Katie reflect on the Danish Parliament’s vote to extend the abortion limit from 12 to 18 weeks and to grant decision-making rights to 15–17-year-olds. They explore the legal, medical, and emotional sides of the reform, bringing in their own Irish perspectives and lived experiences. The conversation digs into questions of bodily autonomy, political will, and the cultural differences between Denmark’s steady policy evolution and Ireland’s more high-stakes, all-or-nothing referenda. It’s a deeply personal and thought-provoking discussion about what it means to feel safe and supported by the country you live in—especially when it comes to healthcare and reproductive rights. 

Full episode: 

https://lwidpodcast.buzzsprout.com/2209797/episodes/17019395-abortion-rights-career-gap-hearing-crisis-lwid-s3e14

In this episode:

Cohosts: 

• Fionn - https://www.linkedin.com/in/fionn-o-toole/
• Katie - https://www.linkedin.com/in/katherineeburns/

Podcast Manager:

• Stephanie - https://www.linkedin.com/in/dstephfuccio/

Audio Editor: 

• Leo - https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-vitasovic/

Transcript Editor: 

• Nicholas

❓ Have questions, ideas or feedback? Email us at lastweekdk@gmail.com.

👀 Subscribe to the newsletter (available in multiple languages!)

English -Romanian - Polish - Spanish - Turkish - Italian - German - Hungarian

🛍️ Get your LWID merchandise:
https://last-week-in-denmark.tpopsite.com/shop?limit=48

Follow us:

✨IG: https://www.instagram.com/last_week_in_denmark/

🎉FB: https://www.facebook.com/lastweekindenmark

👉LI: https://www.linkedin.com/company/lastweekindenmark

Get involved with our events and publications:

⭐Website: https://lwid.dk/

Transcript

Steph: 

Welcome to the Last Week in Denmark Podcast. Each week two of our community members talk through the top Danish news, stories and developments, sharing personal insights and international perspectives. If you're an international living in Denmark or thinking of moving here, you'll want to check out many of these episodes and we've got three full seasons ready for you to explore. Hi, I'm Steph, the podcast manager for the Last Week in Denmark podcast and during our summer break we're highlighting standout moments from the most recent season while our co hosts take a break. This week we're revisiting a powerful conversation from Theon and Katie, both from Ireland, about Denmark's historic vote to expand abortion rights, including extending the legal limit to 18 weeks and granting decision making rights to 15 to 17 year olds. It's a deeply personal and reflective episode that compares Denmark's approach with the Irish context and considers the broader implications of young people and bodily autonomy. You'll find the full episode link in the show Notes. If you connect with this clip, please screenshot it and share it on social media. We're here to help internationals in Denmark stay informed and feel connected. Thank you for helping us reach more people like you.

Fionn: 

Maybe just to give a very brief little bit of background on this, this happened actually very recently. So, on Thursday the Danish parliament voted to expand abortion rights by raising the limit to 18 weeks. Two other votes also happened. So there was kind of three bills in total. So I mentioned the giving 15 year olds to 17 year olds, so those under 18 and above 15 the right to have decision making power on abortions. And also there was a vote whether or not to replace the five regional abortion councils with a new national abortion board. And all of those have passed with the kind of headline one the 18 week limit passing with 74 votes in favour and 29 against. So, pretty decisive you could say. And the government is now going to amend the held act with new rules which are going to enter into force from July 1st this year. So also pretty soon. No big surprises I would say, in terms of what parties kind of voted for and against. So, the government was supported by Enhedslisten, Socialistisk Folkeparti, the Alternativet and Radikale Venstre, and one from Liberal Alliance. And the more conservative parties were voting "no" so to speak. So, Dansk Folkeparti, Conservatives, Liberal Alliance and Danmarksdemokraterne with one vest for politician joining them. Now this has been on the works for a while. The agreements were first being announced over a year ago. And Katie, what do you thought? Is it soon enough that they've brought them in?

Katie:

Never, never soon enough. I, as a woman and a lesbian, I have a lot of feelings about anything that tries to take away a woman's rights to the autonomy of her body. I do understand it's not a straightforward subject. I do understand obviously babies are very cute and very small and also that kind of debate of when does a life start, when does a human start to get rights, when do we start to consider them a living, breathing thing. But at the same time, I think there is just a huge knowledge gap with myself included. I don't know what are the full consequences of being pregnant. I'll often turn around to my mother and be like "your teeth can fall out?" And she'll be like, yeah. And it's like, okay. No one really tells you those things. I think particularly when you're younger because your body as a woman isn't fully formed, say for example, your hips. If a younger person has a baby, it can have huge long term effects on their physical well being. So that's where like, obviously this is good, this is a step in the right direction. It is thankfully what I come to expect living in a place like Denmark. That's part of why I feel very safe and my rights are safe here, unlike other parts of the world. And I think it is extremely positive to see that there's still work going towards this, I think in Ireland, where we're from, there is very much a kind of attitude of we'll have a big referendum, everyone will vote on it and then that's it, and then we'll talk about it in 10 to 15 years. And I think it causes a huge amount of stress in Ireland because you kind of think, particularly say for the gay marriage referendum, it was, well, if we don't get it now, who knows if we'll ever get it. Why does an entire country have to come together to vote on these things? I don't really know because of our inept politicians? But anyway, there's very much a, we've done that, that big thing is over, let's move on. Whereas in Denmark, this kind of consistently pushing forward and kind of saying, how do we give more rights? How can we make this more fair? It's definitely a positive thing. But my inner female outrage at "why can't I just have the power to make decisions over my body" still kind of rises up when things come in and I am a bit, why 15 to 17 year olds? What about a 14 year old? What is it about a 14 year old that we don't want to give them those rights? And then I know in the UK from the age of 13 you can have an abortion without your parents consent. So, I am like finding the reasoning behind why specifically 15 to 17 year olds, but not somebody sooner. And also what are the different kind of circumstances that we want to take into account for these things? You know, children are often abused. There can be that they don't understand what's happened. Does it change in those circumstances? Sometimes the parents are involved in those cases. And I know as a world we don't really like to talk about these things, but it is, this is the reality of the world that we're living in. So what's going to be put in place to protect those young women? And that's where it's a good thing. But I am also enraged. But what do you think, Fionn?

Fionn: 

Well, as a father that almost feels like a cop out to say because I think all the women in my life and all the women who aren't in my life as well should have full control over their own healthcare, right? So, obviously, but I think those feelings are maybe, yeah, even more emphasized as a father of a daughter who's currently very small, only a few years old. So you know, right now this is not a discussion that we have or need to have, but obviously I want her to have the most highest degree of safety and autonomy possible when she grows up. I think the reason, at least the official reasoning behind the 15 year old age limit is that the age of consent or the minimum age of sexual consent is 15 years old. And so they have kind of aligned that, so to speak with the idea that, okay, if you are legally allowed to have sexual intercourse at the age of 15, you can make decisions about your own body. And also patients who are from the age of 15 and up, they're able to give informed consent for treatments in the healthcare system in accordance with the current healthcare laws. So I think that's the political or like legal reasoning behind the 15 year old age limit. But I get the point, as well. It would be naive to just say, okay, well there's no 14 year olds or 13 year olds having sex. I mean they are. Whether that is in, I don't know if you could call it necessarily consenting, but you know, with their peers or whether it's in obviously a much worse abusive situation. But I do think this is absolutely a very positive step right in that direction because again, you know, thinking if my own daughter ever needed to have one, I would always hope that she could speak to me about it and get support and you know, everything. The positive love that I could bring right to my own child. But I know fully that there are plenty of kids unfortunately out there who aren't in that situation, whether it's because of abuse within the family or just because they don't have that relationship with their parents, they don't have the psychological safety maybe to discuss it with their parents. Or it could also just be because of cultural or religious factors, for example, where abortion is, you know, seen as taboo in that culture or that religion, and therefore they don't feel like they could get their parents consent.

Katie:

I'm sure you're wonderful and your daughter would definitely feel supported and that she'd come through. She's a nice man. But at the same time, it's not really your business, you know, in the sense that it is. Each person should have the right to kind of go, this is not right for me in this moment, as well as all those other reasons where people might not have the support they need. So as you say, like, it's definitely better that they're moving in that right direction.

Fionn: 

For sure. Exactly. Yeah. And I think my point there being just that I would hope they would always feel safe enough to talk about it with me whether they needed my consent or not. Right. But I think it's a real positive that they, they don't need my decision over their, their own body there. I mean, you mentioned this idea of, yeah, what you could say almost a box ticking exercise in some other countries where there is a legal framework put in place or a decision made and then the decision is kind of left statically, so to speak. And that's maybe one of the reasons here why we're seeing some progress. So the right to abortion in Denmark was introduced in 1973. So it's been obviously more than 50 years. And the Health and Interior Minister, she was basically saying, okay, like it's been 50 years. These rules and laws need to move with the times. And the original reason that the 12 week limit was established was at least partly due to the fact that at that time all abortions were surgical and there were more complications after 12 weeks and there was a greater risk, right, of complications, I assume, for the mother as well. But obviously in the meantime, this may surprise you, but medical science has advanced and that's not to say that there are no complications still possible with a procedure like an abortion, but obviously we have made such huge advances in medicine generally that it is, I think, now considered safer for the mother or for the woman to be able to get an abortion after that. So of course that's not the only reason given. But I think that's maybe a positive example of actually law or politics catching up with the times, so to speak. And very often people, technology moves a lot faster than politics does. But maybe in this case, yeah, it's caught up at that little bit. And yeah, that's reflecting that. I'm always pleasantly surprised when in whatever country the laws, rules, whatever they be, actually seem to be adjusted to fit with more modern day and age. Because there's a lot in a lot of countries that seem to be, you know, well, this law from the 1880s is going to prevent you from doing X, Y or Z. And yeah...

Katie:

Or in this current economic climate some bigger countries will just be like, "God, will we get rid of all of the work we've done over the last 50 years? Who needs that? It's only everyone's rights ever." So, yeah, it's nice to be here.

Kalpita: 

Hey, this is Kalpita and Golda, co hosts of the Last Week in Denmark podcasts. Did you know Last Week in Denmark offers sponsored content in the newsletter? Our reporters are producing original articles and content tailored for internationals in Denmark.

Golda:

So if you have a business our readers should know about, let us write about it. Get in touch with us at reporter@lwid.dk. You can also reach out to us on LinkedIn and Instagram @LastWeekInDenmark.