The Israels Women's Network - Family Planning Among Israeli Women

Israel Women's Network - Leading Social Change

Health Fertility - Family Planning Among Israeli Women

Taken from: Dr. Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Combined Initial and Second Report of the State of Israel Concerning the Implementation of the United Nations Convention on all Forms of Discrimination against Women, Submitted in 1997 to the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.

Abortions

The Penal Code – 1977, sections 312-321, permits abortions upon the permission of a designated committee in the following cases:
1.The woman is under the legal age for marriage or above 40.
2.The pregnancy is the result of incestuous or extra-marital relations
3.The unborn child will suffer from a physical or mental deformity.
4.The continuation of pregnancy will endanger the life of the mother, or may cause her physical or mental damage.

There are no criminal sanctions against women who undergo illegal abortions. The code penalizes doctors who perform the illegal procedures.

The Committee for Approval of Termination of Pregnancies is composed of two doctors and a social worker. One of the Committee members must be a woman. No approval for the abortion is needed other than that of the committee, even if the woman seeking the abortion is a minor. Upon applying to the committee, the woman seeking an abortion must meet with a social worker, who is instructed by the law to explain the physical and mental dangers of abortion, and is also instructed by the Ministry of Health to attempt to convince her to choose an alternative solution to the unwanted pregnancy. The woman seeking the abortion must also meet with a doctor who is instructed to explain the medical risks involved. The reports of both the doctor and the social worker must be reviewed by the committee before it makes its decision.

The statutory committee may not examine applications for abortions of pregnancies that have developed beyond the 23rd week, rather, such requests must be reviewed by a special committee. The special committee is composed of the director of the medical center (to which the application has been sent), the director of the maternity ward, the director of the neonatology ward, the director of a genetics center, and a chief social worker.

Abortions performed for medical reasons or where the woman is a minor are covered by the medical insurance as part of the basic basket of health services.

Pronatalism and Family Planning

Over the last 20 years Israel has witnessed a gradual expansion of family planning services in both the public and private health care sectors. However, despite fairly universal heath care coverage and the broad range of medical assistance provided in the basic basket of services, contraceptives continue to fall outside of the basic basket of services offered to women. Israeli sick funds offer contraceptive devices at a fee which varies from 170 NIS for an IUD fitting at clinics operated by the General Sick Fund (which insures approximately 75% of the population) to 400 NIS in the other major funds. Although oral contraceptive pills are offered at a subsidized price (approximately 75% of the actual cost), this fact is not widely publicized and most clinics prefer to dispense the IUD to women after childbirth. Diaphragms are neither encouraged nor subsidized. Other non-prescriptive methods, such as foam, rhythm, and withdrawal are perceived as outside of medical jurisdiction, and are therefore rarely discussed by doctors as alternatives.