April 18 is the anniversary of Hungary's constitutional protection of preborn children. It was signed into law in 2011, declaring the “life of the fetus” is protected from conception.
Abortion has been legal in Hungary since 1953 and the 2011 constitutional amendment did not outright ban it. Compared to its humanistic neighbors, however, abortion remains still tightly restricted in a country that has not followed the liberal pattern of Europe.
Hungary native Dr. Imre Teglasy, with Human Life International, tells AFN parliament strengthened the country’s abortion laws with a 2022 law. It requires the expectant mother to hear the child’s heartbeat before going through with an abortion.
"We realized that this new constitution, in spite of the nice wording,” he says, “in fact due to the existing abortion law, is not as effective as it should have been.”
Teglasy, who was born in Hungary in 1952, has a grim abortion story to tell: His mother tried numerous times to abort him but was unsuccessful.
Today the abortion survivor, and a father of 12 children, remains an advocate for the unborn in his country despite a push for more abortion rights.
