COSTA RICA - Limits on Abortion

Costa Rica’s President Rodrigo Chaves further restricted access to abortion, limiting it to situations when the mother’s life is in danger.

The country’s previous regulations also allowed abortions if a pregnancy posed a threat to the mother’s health. No legislative approval was required for the change.

In making the rule change through the Health Ministry, Chaves made good on a promise he had given religious conservatives at the Evangelical Alliance.

While abortion access has advanced in recent years in some of Latin America’s largest countries, including Mexico and Argentina, Central American governments have maintained strong restrictions. Countries including Honduras, El Salvador and Nicaragua have total bans, while Guatemala allows for abortion when the mother’s life is at risk.

-apnews.com, 15 October 2025

Commentary: It is unthinkable for a normal human being to outright kill a life. Most of the reasons given are comfort and less responsibility.

Abortion is not new; according to reliable statistics, globally it is increasing.

There are numerous facts about abortion on the internet:

• 1765 England: “Post-quickening abortion is no longer considered homicide.”

• 1778 Sweden: “The first infanticide act granted mothers the right and the means for an anonymous birth.”

• 1810 France: “Napoleonic Code of the first French empire punished any person who procured an abortion with imprisonment.”

• 1869 Canada: “The parliament of Canada unified criminal law in all provinces banning abortion.”

In the meantime, all this has changed and continues to change quite frequently.

Google states: “Countries where abortion is completely illegal include El Salvador, the Philippines, Nicaragua, Egypt, and Laos. Other nations allow abortion only under the most extreme circumstances, such as to save the life of the mother, and have severely restrictive laws.”

What does the Bible say? It is no less than King David who writes in Psalm 139:13, 16: “For thou hast possessed my reins: thou hast covered me in my mother’s womb… Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unperfect; and in thy book all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them.” Based on these facts, we continue to insist that abortion is murder.