From ministry orders towards constitutional debate: Lessons drawn from the past 50 years of abortion laws in Hungary

This article is an analytical and chronological review of the changing course of abortion law in Hungary since the end of the second world war. During that period, official attitudes toward abortion, and the legal and policy frameworks that give concrete expression to them, have changed several times, sometimes moving back and forth between restrictiveness and permissiveness. Prof. Sandor examines these developments and situates them within the larger context of Hungarian law and public policy, with a view to illuminating the issues at stake in the current abortion debates going on in Hungary.