Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

Abortion tourism is one of the ethical and legal issues which draw the attention of academia both in the field of empirical and human science. The most remarkable fact in these studies is the deep differences among scholars reflected in the wide range of absolute permission to absolute ban. As a result, the approach of legal systems for or against abortion has been diverse and different and, in some cases, contradictory laws have been passed in regards to this field. This paper studies legal tourism in the context of abortion from the perspective of ethics and law, and analyses how to address this issue in the light of private international rules, systematically. Legal tourism can be interpreted as a skullduggery so that such an act is not identified under the law that is normally applied. In order to prevent this act, some legal systems limit the privileges related to the abortion to their own citizens. The freedom of movement enables persons to become free from applicable laws where they reside, while their acts become the subject of a foreign law which has more advantages to them. This act which is called legal tourism is the illusion of a family from the country where they reside and bans abortion to temporarily stay in another country which permits abortion. Abortion tourism leads to the enforcement of laws of the country that permit it, instead of the law that bans it, while the latter is normally applicable. Moreover, ethical considerations that surround the abortion make the application of the rules of conflict difficult and challenging.