Lectures and seminars Exhibition: The path to free abortion
17-10-2025 4:00 pm Add to iCal
50 years of the right to choose has impacted hugely on the availability of safe and accessible clinical abortions. Few things have meant so much for women’s individual rights and health in Sweden as the Abortion Act.
The Path to Free Abortion exhibition presents accounts compiled by Malin Clausson and Sandra in their book “50 år av fri abort 50 berättelser”. It covers political reforms, rulings and personal stories that led up to the 1975 Abortion Act. Meet some of the people who have gone through a termination and let them share with you the decisions and emotions that have shaped their lives. The exhibition opens in the University Library (Torget) on Friday 3 October at 10:00 and continues until 17 October at 16:00.
This year celebrates 50 years of the Abortion Act in Sweden – and 50 years of opposition to it. Today, anti-abortion sentiments are on the rise in the West. The Abortion Act gives women the right to decide on a termination up until the 18th week of pregnancy and has made it possible for researchers to improve the abortion procedure and make it safer, more accessible and more accepted.
Medical abortion was developed by the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on Human Reproduction at Karolinska Institutet and Karolinska University Hospital. A medical abortion involves two different preparations, one of which is synthetic prostaglandin. In 1982, Sune Bergström and Bengt Samuelsson, both at Karolinska Institutet, were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discoveries concerning prostaglandins. Medical abortion has proved particularly valuable in low-resource countries, where terminations are both hard to arrange and highly risky. Unsafe abortions are one of the main causes of maternal mortality.
Queries? Contact annette.aronsson@ki.se
The event is free of charge and no advanced registration is required. It is being arranged in association with RFSU and the Museum of Women’s History.
Nobel Calling Stockholm
The announcement of the year’s new Nobel laureates turns the world’s attention onto Stockholm. To mark the occasion, the Nobel Prize Museum is teaming up with KI and other institutions to turn the city into a hub of science, research and technology under the name Nobel Calling. In the true spirit of knowledge, KI will be one of many sources of inspiration and enlightenment. View the full programme here.
