Sejak zaman kuno, aborsi telah dilakukan dengan menggunakan obat-obatan herbal, benda-benda tajam, dengan [[cedera|paksaan]], atau juga [[ramuan tradisional|metode-metode tradisional]] lainnya.<ref name="Management of Abortion, Chp 1">{{cite book|chapter=1. Abortion and medicine: A sociopolitical history|isbn=978-1-4443-1293-5|publisher=[[John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.]]|year=2009|location=[[Oxford, United Kingdom]]|title=Management of Unintended and Abnormal Pregnancy|edition=1st|editors=M Paul, ES Lichtenberg, L Borgatta, DA Grimes, PG Stubblefield, MD Creinin|first=Carole|last=Joffe|url=http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/62/14051769/1405176962.pdf|format=PDF|archiveurl=httphttps://www.webcitation.org/62bppK1Iw?url=http://media.wiley.com/product_data/excerpt/62/14051769/1405176962.pdf|archivedate=21 October 2011-10-21|deadurl=no|access-date=2017-11-28}}</ref> Terdapat perbedaan [[hukum aborsi]] dan [[agama dan aborsi|pandangan agama]] ataupun budaya di seluruh dunia. Di beberapa wilayah hukum, aborsi dilegalkan dalam kasus tertentu seperti pemerkosaan, [[kelainan bawaan|masalah pada janin]], [[status sosial ekonomi|kemiskinan]], risiko pada kesehatan sang ibu, ataupun [[inses]].<ref name="Dev98-07">{{Cite journal|last1=Boland |first1=R. |last2=Katzive |first2=L. |doi=10.1363/ifpp.34.110.08 |title=Developments in Laws on Induced Abortion: 1998–2007 |journal=International Family Planning Perspectives |volume=34 |issue=3 |pages=110–120 |year=2008 |pmid=18957353 |url=http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/3411008.html}}</ref> Di berbagai daerah di dunia terjadi banyak [[perdebatan aborsi|perdebatan]] terkait isu moral, etika, dan hukum dalam hal aborsi.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Nixon|first1=edited by Frederick Adolf Paola, Robert Walker, Lois LaCivita|title=Medical ethics and humanities|date=2010|publisher=Jones and Bartlett Publishers|location=Sudbury, Mass.|isbn=9780763760632|page=249|url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=9pM2pw-2wl4C&pg=PA249}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Johnstone|first1=Megan-Jane|title=Bioethics a nursing perspective|date=2009|publisher=Churchill Livingstone/Elsevier|location=Sydney, N.S.W.|isbn=9780729578738|page=228|edition=5th|url=https://books.google.ca/books?id=EG-Yg1xDYakC&pg=PA228|quote=Although abortion has been legal in many countries for several decades now, its moral permissibilities continues to be the subject of heated public debate.}}</ref> Mereka yang [[gerakan antiaborsi|menentang aborsi]] umumnya bersikukuh bahwa embrio ataupun janin adalah seorang pribadi manusia dengan [[hak untuk hidup]] dan mereka menyamakan aborsi dengan [[pembunuhan]].<ref>{{Cite news|author=Pastor Mark Driscoll |title=What do 55 million people have in common? |publisher=Fox News |date=18 October 2013 |accessdate=2 July 2014 |url=http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2013/10/18/what-do-55-million-people-have-in-common/}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first=Dale|last=Hansen |title=Abortion: Murder, or Medical Procedure? |publisher=Huffington Post |date=18 March 2014 |accessdate=2 July 2014 |url=http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dale-hansen/abortion-murder-or-medica_b_4986637.html}}</ref> Sedangkan mereka yang mendukung legalitas aborsi umumnya berpandangan bahwa seorang wanita memiliki hak untuk mengambil keputusan atas tubuhnya sendiri.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Sifris|first1=Ronli Noa|title=Reproductive Freedom, Torture and International Human Rights Challenging the Masculinisation of Torture.|date=2013|publisher=Taylor and Francis|location=Hoboken|isbn=9781135115227|page=3|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9pVWAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA3}}</ref>
