Abortion is illegal in Fiji whether it is done by a medical practitioner or by the woman who is pregnant.

The new Crime Decree 2009 shows that any person who performs an abortion unlawfully will be liable for 14 years imprisonment.

Under the new laws, a woman who commits the offence to procure her own miscarriage with the use of any kind of force, any other means or permits any such thing or means to be administered or used to her, can be liable to 7 years imprisonment.

Any person who supplies drugs or instruments to procure abortion can be sent to jail for three years.

The Crime Decree clearly states that abortion by a medical practitioner registered under Fiji laws is not unlawful, only when it is performed in good faith and with reasonable care and skill, if the pregnancy is the result of physical relationship between a parent and the child, a brother and sister, a grandfather and grandchild or it is the result of a rape.

According to the Decree, abortion is justified if there is serious danger to the physical or mental health of the woman concerned if an abortion is not done or the pregnancy will cause serious danger to the woman concerned.

The Decree states that if at least 20 weeks of a woman's pregnancy is completed when abortion is performed, the performance of abortion is not justified unless 2 medical practitioners have agreed, that the mother or the unborn child has a severe medical condition, and that the abortion is performed in a facility approved by the Minister for Health.

As for a minor who is dependent on her parents shall not be regarded as having given informed consent unless her custodial parent has been informed that abortion is being considered, and has been given the opportunity to participate in a counseling process, and in consultations between the woman and her doctor as to whether the abortion is to be performed.

The new laws also focus specifically on concealing the birth of a child.

A woman who after giving birth secretly disposes the dead body of the child to conceal the birth whether the child died before, during birth or after, will be sent to prison for one year.

Also a person who commits an offence with the intent to destroy the life of a child capable of being born alive, by any willful act causes a child to die before it is independent of its mother, will have to serve life in prison.

The new Crimes Decree will come into force from February 2010.