4

As far as I am aware, Uruguay is the only country in the Americas that has legalized both abortion and cannabis:

Abortion was legalized in 2012, followed by same-sex marriage and cannabis in the following year.

I know of many countries where either abortion or cannabis are legalized, but I'm not aware of other examples where both are.

Are there any other countries in the world where both abortion and cannabis are legalized on a country level (ie: not just on some states)?

Improve this question
1
  • 2
    Comments deleted. Please don't use comments to answer the question. If you would like to answer, please post a proper answer.
    – Philipp ♦
    Jun 15, 2019 at 19:00

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
6

I looked at Wikipedia's very nice maps about this:

Here is a map about the legality of marijuana. Blue means that it is fully legalized. I am only counting these, based on the specific wording in the question.

Canada, Alaska, Washington state, Oregon, California, Nevada, Colorado, Michigan, DC, Uruguay, South Africa, and Georgia are blue

The dark blue countries here are ones where abortion is "legal on request".

Canada, most of the United States of America, Cuba, Guyana, Uruguay Denmark, Estonia, Iceland, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Sweden, Ireland, Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Greece, Italy, Kosovo, Montenegro, Portugal, Serbia, Slovenia, Spain, Macedonia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Switzerland, Belarus, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Hungary, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Cyprus, Georgia, Turkey, Cambodia, Singapore, Vietnam, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Nepal, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, China, North Korea, Mongolia, Cape Verde, Sourth Africa, Tunisia, Mozambique, Western Australia, Northwest Territory, Queensland, Victoria, Tasmania

If I look at the overlap, abortion is legal on request and recreational marijuana is legalized (as opposed to unenforced or decriminalized) in:

  • Canada
  • Uruguay
  • South Africa (growing and using but not sale)
  • Georgia (growing and using but not sale)

Interestingly, these are actually all of the countries (that I know of) with nationally legalized recreational marijuana.

This list originally counted states and territories in the US, but I removed it.

Note: there very likely are some islands that I missed in the alt-text list. Sorry if I did—feel free to correct me in the comments! Also, if anyone is reading this in the future and notices that some of these are outdated, please comment and tell me!

View the alt text in the source of this answer for a complete list. All information in this is based on Wikipedia's articles on marijuana laws and abortion laws, along with their articles on marijuana in the Northern Mariana Islands and in Guam.

Improve this answer
6
  • 1
    Nice answer! Although I would remove the US from the list as it it not nation wide.
    – Gabriel
    Jun 16, 2019 at 13:55
  • @Gabriel Thanks! I am adding a note that states are trying to make abortions much harder to get, but most of those states with legal marijuana are controlled by pro-abortion Democrats and thus it is pretty safe there.
    – Stormblessed
    Jun 16, 2019 at 13:57
  • WRT the US, it should be noted that most of the states which have legalized marijuana have done so through the initiative process ncsl.org/research/elections-and-campaigns/… rather than through the legislature. At least one (Nevada) has also protected access to abortion via a similar process.
    – jamesqf
    Jun 16, 2019 at 17:54
  • 1
    Thank you @Stormblessed but the question is about countries with nation wide laws, not on a state level. The US does not belong in the list.
    – Gabriel
    Jun 16, 2019 at 18:29
  • 1
    @Gabriel I think it might as well be mentioned (as those states’ total population is in the tens of millions), but I’ll remove it.
    – Stormblessed
    Jun 16, 2019 at 18:48
5

Abortion in Canada is legal at all stages of pregnancy, even though provision of services varies from province to province.

Abortion is the premature ending of a pregnancy. Inducing an abortion was a crime in Canada until 1988, when the Supreme Court of Canada struck down the abortion law as unconstitutional. Since then, abortion has been legal at any stage in a woman's pregnancy, and is publicly funded as a medical procedure under the Canada Health Act.

The Canadian Encyclopedia: Abortion in Canada

Cannabis in Canada is legal for both recreational and medicinal purposes.

Cannabis, also known as marijuana (among countless other names), is a psychoactive intoxicant that was banned in Canada from 1923 until medical cannabis became legal in 2001. The consumption and sale of recreational cannabis was legalized and regulated on 17 October 2018, after Parliament passed Bill C-45, the Cannabis Act.

The Canadian Encyclopedia: Cannabis Legalization in Canada

Improve this answer
0

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .