Originally, abortions in Malaysia were governed by sections 312-315 of the Malaysian Penal Code which made abortions totally illegal, and was derived from the Indian Penal Code 1871.
Due to its increasing need and pressures from the medical fraternity, an amendment was made in 1971 to Section 312 whereby abortions was allowed “for the purpose of saving the life of the woman.”
A further amendment was made in The Penal Code (Amendment) Act 1989 (Act 727), which came into force in May, 1989, which widened the criteria for carrying out abortions.
The present law is that the medical practitioner can carry out an abortion procedure if he is in good faith that such procedure is required in order to save the life of the woman, to preserve physical health as well as mental health of the woman.
The legal period within which an abortion can take place is 120 days
