From El Salvador to the Philippines, various countries have near-total bans on abortion like the one that came into force in Texas in September
By Anastasia Moloney
BOGOTA, Dec 1 (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - The U.S. Supreme Court has indicated support for upholding a restrictive Mississippi abortion law that could overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling recognizing a woman's right to end a pregnancy.
Abortion rights campaigners, who say women's right to a termination is under attack unlike any time since Roe, have said a decision that upholds Mississippi's law would effectively gut the 1973 ruling, giving states free rein to curb the procedure.
Court justices also heard arguments on Nov. 1 in challenges to a law that took effect in September in Republican-led Texas, which bans abortion at about six weeks of pregnancy. They have not yet ruled in the case.
In other parts of the world, from Malta to El Salvador, women have long been prohibited from terminating their pregnancies - even in cases of rape or incest.
IN FOCUS: Abortion curbs around the world
Reproductive rights campaigners say legislation that bans or severely restricts abortion does not stop women getting terminations, instead forcing some to get backstreet abortions that can be unsafe and sometimes deadly.
In nations where abortion is banned or allowed only to save a woman's life or preserve her physical health, only one in four abortions is safe, according to a 2014 study by the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute, a research group.
By contrast, in countries where abortion is legal, nearly nine out of 10 abortions were found to be performed safely.
Here are some facts about five countries with strict anti-abortion laws:
EL SALVADOR
Abortion has been a crime in all cases in El Salvador since 1998, with prison sentences of up to 40 years for abortion-related offenses - making the ban one of world's strictest.
Five other Latin American countries, mostly also in socially conservative Central America, have total abortion bans, but rights activists say El Salvador stands out for its high number of convictions and harsh jail terms.
By law, medical staff have to report it to the police if they suspect a pregnant woman or girl of having induced an abortion.
Women are sometimes convicted of "aggravated homicide" and put behind bars after having miscarriages, still-births and other pregnancy complications that were wrongly labeled as abortion-related, pro-choice activists say.
At least 14 women have been sentenced to 12 years or more in prison since 2000 and nearly 150 were prosecuted for abortion crimes from 2000 to 2014, according to the Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion in El Salvador.
HONDURAS
In neighboring Honduras, a mainly Roman Catholic nation, women who seek an abortion under any circumstances face three to six years in prison and anyone who performs the procedure can be jailed for up to 10 years.
Access to emergency contraception is also severely restricted. In 2012, the Honduran Supreme Court upheld an absolute ban on the morning-after pill.
More than 8,600 Honduran women were admitted to hospital in 2017 for complications from abortion or miscarriage, including uncontrolled bleeding, according to the latest available government figures.
Across Latin America, about 760,000 women are treated every year for complications caused by unsafe abortions, according to the Guttmacher Institute.
MALTA
Along with the tiny European states of Andorra and Vatican City, abortion is illegal in all cases in the Mediterranean island nation of Malta, where procuring an abortion, or helping someone to do so, is punishable by up to three years in jail.
