Abortion in Denmark was fully legalized on 1 October 1973, allowing the procedure to be done on-demand if a woman's pregnancy has not exceeded its twelfth week. According to the law of Denmark, the patient must be over the age of 18 to decide on an abortion alone; parental consent is required if she is a minor. An abortion can be performed after 12 weeks if the woman's life or health are in danger. A woman may also be granted an authorization to abort after 12 weeks if certain circumstances are proved to be present (such as poor socioeconomic condition of the woman; risk of birth defects to fetus; the pregnancy being the result of rape; mental health risk to mother).
Abortion was first allowed in 1939 by application; if the doctors deemed the pregnancy fell into one of three categories (harmful or fatal to the mother, high risk for birth defects, or a pregnancy borne out of rape), a woman could legally have her pregnancy terminated. A little more than half of the applications received in 1954 and 1955 were accepted; the low acceptance rates were linked to a surge of illegal abortions performed outside the confines of hospitals. An addendum to the 1939 law was passed on 24 March 1970, allowing on-demand abortions only for women under the age of 18 who were deemed "ill-equipped for motherhood," and women over the age of 38.
The 1973 law is still valid today and nullifies the 1970 law.
As of 2013, the abortion rate was 12.1 abortions per 1000 women aged 15-49 years, which is below average for the Nordic Countries. The vast majority of Danes support access to legal abortions. In 2007, polls found that 95% supported the right.