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Malaysia
ABORTION POLICY
Grounds on which abortion is permitted:
To save the life of the woman
To preserve physical health
To preserve mental health
Rape or incest
Foetal impairment
Economic or social reasons
Available on request
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
No
No
Additional requirements:
Third-party authorization by a medical professional is required. The legal period allowed is 120 days
and the woman’s consent is required.
REPRODUCTIVE HEALTH CONTEXT
Government view on fertility level:
Too high
Government intervention concerning fertility level:
To lower
Government policy on contraceptive use:
Direct support provided
Percentage of currently married women using
modern contraception (aged 15-49, 1988):
31
Total fertility rate (1995-2000):
3.2
Age-specific fertility rate (per 1,000 women aged 15-19, 1995-2000):
25
Government has expressed particular concern about:
Morbidity and mortality resulting from induced abortion
Complications of childbearing and childbirth
Yes
Yes
Maternal mortality ratio (per 100,000 live births, 1990):
National
South-eastern Asia
80
440
Female life expectancy at birth (1995-2000):
74.3
Source: Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs of the
United Nations Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.
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Malaysia
BACKGROUND
Under the former language of section 312 of the Penal Code of Malaysia, which was in effect until 1989,
the only legal basis for the performance of an abortion was to save the life of the pregnant woman.
In April 1989, however, section 312 of Act 727 of the Penal Code was amended substantially to permit
abortion if a medical practitioner was of the opinion, formed in good faith, that the continuance of the
pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, or injury to the mental or physical health of
the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated. The change appears to reflect to some
degree the view of Malaysia’s population. A national fertility and family survey found that 71 per cent of the
women surveyed endorsed abortion on the grounds of rape or incest; 54.3 per cent endorsed it if the woman
was unmarried, 52.2 per cent for health reasons and 34.5 per cent for economic and social reasons.
If an abortion is performed in violation of the provisions of section 312 of the Penal Code and the woman
consents, both she and the person performing the abortion are subject to up to seven years’ imprisonment and
payment of a fine if she is “quick” with child; if she is not “quick” with child, they are subject to up to three
years’ imprisonment and/or payment of a fine. A woman is usually considered to be “quick” with child around
the fourth month of pregnancy. If the woman does not consent, the person performing the abortion is subject
to up to 20 years’ imprisonment and payment of a fine whether the woman is “quick” with child or not. If the
abortion results in the death of the woman and she has consented, the person performing the abortion is subject
to up to 10 years’ imprisonment and payment of a fine; if she did not consent, the person is subject to up to 20
years’ imprisonment.
Information on the incidence of abortion is not readily available. A report issued prior to the 1989
amendment of section 312 of the Penal Code estimated an abortion ratio of one in three live births. In
addition, induced abortion ratios per 100 pregnancies have reportedly more than doubled, with ratios in urban
areas three times as high as in rural areas.
Citing the advantages of a larger population in providing both an expanded domestic market and a reservoir
of labour resources, the Government promulgated a revised population policy in 1984, which sought to
decelerate the tempo of the decline in the fertility rate and to stabilize population size at about 70 million by the
year 2010.
Under the new programme, the family is being promoted as the basic unit of society. The “total family
concept” calls for greater emphasis on parenting, child development, marriage and family counselling and for
the provision of childcare facilities to allow women to combine parenting with labour-market activities. At the
same time, the Government reported that, according to family planning surveys, a sizeable proportion of the
couples that did not want additional children were not practising contraception and that many couples were
relying upon inefficient traditional methods. The Government concluded that the situation called for greater
educational efforts to bring those under-served target groups into the programme.
Malaysia has over 25 years of history of family planning. In 1966, the Malaysian Parliament passed the
National Family Planning Act and established the National Family Planning Board to formulate policies and
methods for the promotion and spread of family planning practices in the country. The Employment Ordinance
of 1955, which provided for a maternity leave and allowance for a period of 60 days, was amended in 1976 to
disallow a maternity allowance to a woman with three or more children.
A comprehensive family planning programme was formulated as part of the Sixth Malaysian Development
Plan for the period 1991-1995. Both the Ministry of Health and the Malaysian Federation of Family Planning
Associations disseminate information and family planning services to both men and women.
Source: Population Policy Data Bank maintained by the Population Division of the Department for Economic and Social Affairs of the
United Nations Secretariat. For additional sources, see list of references.
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