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Research ArticleArticles

The Evolution of Abortion Legislation in Denmark

From Religious Justifications to Secular Ethics

Lene Kühle and Anne Lundahl Mauritsen
Scandinavian Studies, January 2026, 98 (1) 68-92; DOI: https://doi.org/10.3368/sca.98.1.68
Lene Kühle
Lene Kühle, PhD is a Professor in the Sociology of Religion at Aarhus University.
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  • For correspondence: lk{at}cas.au.dk
Anne Lundahl Mauritsen
Anne Lundahl Mauritsen, PhD is an Assistant Professor in Education and Religion at VIA University College.
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  • For correspondence: amau{at}via.dk
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References

Works Cited

  1. ↵
    1. Albæk Erik
    2007. Retten til abort–Eller til liv? Om etik og politik i statskundskab. In Når politik bliver til virkelighed: Festskrift til professor Søren Winter,Nielsen Vibeke LehmannPloug Niels,11–22. Copenhagen: SFI.
  2. ↵
    1. Albæk Erik
    Green-Pedersen ChristofferLarsen Lars Thorup 2012. Morality Issues in Denmark: Policies without Politics. In Morality Politics in Western Europe,Engell Isabellaet al.,137–160. London: Palgrave.
  3. ↵
    1. Askola Heli
    2018. Dropping the Ball or Holding the Line? Challenges to Abortion Laws in the Nordic Countries. Women’s Studies International Forum 66: 25–32. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wsif.2017.11.010
    OpenUrl
  4. ↵
    1. Cullen Pauline
    Korolczuk Elżbieta 2019. Challenging Abortion Stigma: Framing Abortion in Ireland and Poland. Sexual and Reproductive Health Matters 27(3): 6–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/26410397.2019.1686197
    OpenUrl
  5. ↵
    1. de Londras F.
    2020. 'A Hope Raised and Then Defeated'? The Continuing Harms of Irish Abortion Law. Feminist Review 124: 33–50. https://www.jstor.org/stable/27115789
    OpenUrl
  6. ↵
    1. Elvbakken Kari Tove
    2021. Abortspørsmålets politiske historie: 1900–2020. Oslo: Universitetsforlaget.
  7. ↵
    1. Etisk Råd
    2007. Udtalelse 23.marts 2007. https://etiskraad.dk/alle-udgivelser/abort-og-fosterdiagnostik/evt-aendring-af-abortgraensen-2007
  8. ↵
    1. Etisk Råd
    2023. Provokeret abort. Hvor skal grænsen gå?. https://etiskraad.dk/nyheder/2023/et-flertal-i-det-etiske-raad-anbefaler-at-graensen-for-den-fri-abort-haeves
  9. ↵
    1. European Parliamentary Forum for Sexual and Reproductive Rights
    2021. European Abortion Policies Atlas. https://www.epfweb.org/node/857
  10. ↵
    1. Gammeltoft Tine
    Rasch VibekeKnudsen Lisbeth B. 2007. Provokeret abort og stratificeret reproduktion i Danmark: Mod en ny etnisk underklasse? Tidsskrift for Forskning i Sygdom og Samfund 4(7). https://doi.org/10.7146/tfss.v4i7.491
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    1. Gjerris Af Mickey
    2014. Etik og religion i Det Etiske Råd. Tidsskrift for Religionslærerforeningen for Gymnasiet og HF: 20–30.
  12. ↵
    1. Greve Bent
    2007. What Characterise the Nordic Welfare State Model. Journal of Social Sciences 3(2): 43–51.
    OpenUrl
  13. ↵
    1. Heinsen Laura Louise
    2023. The Moral Labor of Making Death: An Ethnography of Second-Trimester selective Abortion in Welfare State Denmark. PhD diss., Aalborg Universitetsforlag. https://doi.org/10.54337/aau532692968
  14. ↵
    1. Hermannsdóttir Turið
    Dybbroe Betina 2023. Components of Reproductive Citizenship: Narratives from a Restrictive Abortion Landscape. Citizenship Studies 27(8): 1022–1037. https://doi.org/10.1080/13621025.2024.2310284
    OpenUrl
  15. ↵
    1. Holm Søren
    2023. The Stability of Political Compromise—Abortion Legislation in Denmark and Norway. Cambridge Quarterly of Healthcare Ethics 32(3): 337–343.
    OpenUrlPubMed
  16. ↵
    1. Hopkins Nick
    Zeedyk SuzanneRaitt Fiona 2005. Visualising Abortion: Emotion Discourse and Fetal Imagery in a Contemporary Abortion Debate. Social Science & Medicine 61(2): 393–403.
    OpenUrlPubMed
  17. ↵
    1. Inglehart Ronald
    2021. Religion’s Sudden Decline: What’s Causing It, and What Comes Next?. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  18. ↵
    1. Jensen Pernille Friis
    2020. Nones: En global (ir) religiøs forandringsproces med lokale særpræg. Om et globalt fænomen i en lokal kontekst. In Religion i en Globaliseret Verden,Warburg MargitHvithamar Annika,141–162. Højbjerg: Univers.
  19. ↵
    1. Kristendemokraterne
    2023. Kristendemokraterne vælger ny retning i abortpolitikken. Press release, December 11. https://www.kd.dk/abpresse/
  20. ↵
    1. Kulczycki Andrzej
    1999. The Abortion Debate in the World Arena. Abingdon-on-Thames: Taylor & Francis.
  21. ↵
    1. Larsen Signe Engelbreth
    2014. Towards the Blasphemous Self: Constructing Societal Identity in Danish Debates on the Blasphemy Provision in the Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies 40(2): 194–211. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2013.851471
    OpenUrl
  22. ↵
    1. Lausten Carsten Bagge
    2013. Studying Politics and Religion: How to Distinguish Religious Politics, Civil Religion, Political Religion and Political Theology. Journal of Religion in Europe 6(4): 428–463.
    OpenUrl
    1. Lindhardt Martin
    2022. In Denmark We Eat Pork and Shake Hands! Islam and the Anti-Islamic Emblems of Cultural Difference in Danish Neo-Nationalism. European Journal of Cultural Studies 25(4): 1139–1155.
    OpenUrl
  23. ↵
    1. Lyng Jens From
    2019. Retten Til Liv markerer 25-årsjubilæum: ‘Vi er nok kommet til at stå mere alene’. Kristeligt Dagblad, April 6. https://www.kristeligt-dagblad.dk/kirke-tro/ensom-abortkamp-i-25-aar
  24. ↵
    1. Mauritsen Anne Lundahl
    2022. Understanding the Scandinavian Paradox: An Interdisciplinary Investigation of Nonreligion and Cultural Religion in a Danish Context. PhD diss., Aarhus University.
  25. ↵
    1. Nexø Sniff Andersen
    2005. Det rette valg: dansk abortpolitik i 1930’erne og 1970’erne. PhD diss., Københavns Universitet.
    1. Nielsen Peter Ingemann
    2023. Nu er det officielt: Kristendemokraterne er ikke længere imod fri abort. Altinget.dk. https://www.altinget.dk/artikel/nu-er-det-officielt-kristendemokraterne-er-ikke-laengere-imod-fri-abort
  26. ↵
    1. Norris Pippa
    Inglehart Ronald 2011. Sacred and Secular: Religion and Politics Worldwide. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
  27. ↵
    1. Pedersen Frank H.
    Herrmann Janne RothmarHansen Laura T. D. 2022. The Factors Influencing the Trajectory of Danish Abortion Law: From Progressive to 50 Years of Stagnation. Medical Law International 22(4): 277–301.
    OpenUrl
  28. ↵
    1. Pedersen Helene Helboe
    2020. Powerful, Professional, and Trusted? In The Oxford Handbook of Danish Politics,Christiansen P. M.Elklit J.Nedergaard P.,88–106. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. https://doi-org.ez.statsbiblioteket.dk/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780198833598.013.7
  29. ↵
    1. Petersen Annika Frida
    2022. Accessing Late-Term Abortion Following Sexual Assault: Looking inside the Danish Legal Black Box. Nordic Journal of Human Rights 40(2): 389–406.
    OpenUrl
    1. Rigsarkivet
    N.d.. Tidslinje: Vejen til fri abort ca. 1920–1973. https://www.rigsarkivet.dk/udforsk/kildepakke-uoensket-gravid-foer-og-efter-den-fri-abort/tidslinje-vejen-til-fri-abort-ca-1920-1973/
  30. ↵
    1. Skalts Vera
    Nørgaard Magna 1965. Abortion Legislation in Denmark. Case Western Reserve Law Review 17: 498. https://scholarlycommons.law.case.edu/caselrev/vol17/iss2/10
    OpenUrl
  31. ↵
    1. Skjeldestad F. E.
    Gissler M.Geirsson R. T.Heino A.Sigbjörnsdottir H. B.Akerkar R.Gemzell-Danielsson K.Heikinheimo O.Løkeland M. 2024. Trends over 50 Years with Liberal Abortion Laws in the Nordic Countries. PLoS One 19(7): e0305701. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0305701
  32. ↵
    1. Zuckerman Phil
    2020. Society without God, 2nd ed. New York: New York University Press.

Legislative Proposals

  1. L50. 1991/92. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/19911/lovforslag/l50/index.htm.
  2. L52. 1994/95. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/19941/lovforslag/l52/index.htm.
  3. L58. 1972/73. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/19721/lovforslag/l58/index.htm.
  4. L60. 1988/89. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/19881/lovforslag/l60/index.htm.
  5. L76. 1999/00. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/19991/lovforslag/l76/index.htm.
  6. L86. 1975/76. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/19751/lovforslag/l86/index.htm.
  7. L114. 1972/73. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/19721/lovforslag/l114/index.htm.
  8. L126. 2024/25. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/20241/lovforslag/l126/index.htm.
  9. L128. 2024/25. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/20241/lovforslag/l128/index.htm.
  10. L159. 2002/03. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/20021/lovforslag/l159/index.htm.
  11. L250. 1992/93. https://www.folketingstidende.dk/samling/19921/lovforslag/l250/index.htm.
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Scandinavian Studies: 98 (1)
Scandinavian Studies
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1 Jan 2026
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The Evolution of Abortion Legislation in Denmark
Lene Kühle, Anne Lundahl Mauritsen
Scandinavian Studies Jan 2026, 98 (1) 68-92; DOI: 10.3368/sca.98.1.68

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The Evolution of Abortion Legislation in Denmark
Lene Kühle, Anne Lundahl Mauritsen
Scandinavian Studies Jan 2026, 98 (1) 68-92; DOI: 10.3368/sca.98.1.68
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    • Abstract
    • Introduction
    • State of the Art
    • Theory and the Discussion of the Secularized Status of Denmark
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Keywords

  • abortion
  • Denmark
  • legislation
  • secularization
  • ethics
  • women’s rights
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