What the Article on Illegal Abortion Covers
Article 133 of the Criminal Code of Georgia covers illegal abortion — the performance of an abortion in violation of the procedure established by law. The legislation regulates abortion by separate medical and legal rules: they define where, within which terms and by whom it may be performed. Violation of these rules — performance in non-medical conditions, by an unsuitable person or within impermissible terms — is precisely the target of this article. The article simultaneously protects the health and life of the pregnant woman: the penalty rises sharply where the abortion is followed by permanent infertility, another grave consequence or the patient’s death.
In practice, such cases often begin against the backdrop of a complication: the patient applies to a hospital with a complication, it is established that the intervention was performed in unsanctioned conditions, and the investigation quickly turns into a charge. The accused’s position here is especially difficult, because the case combines medical and criminal aspects and requires, within the legal frame, a detailed analysis of medical documentation.
The Basic Composition and Its Penalty
Under the first part of the article, illegal abortion is punished by:
- community service for a term of one hundred twenty to three hundred hours;
- house arrest for a term of six months to two years;
- or imprisonment for a term of one to two years.
This frame defines the starting threshold of liability. No fine is provided here — the law begins directly with labor or liberty-restricting penalties, which shows that the state assesses this act seriously.
Aggravating Signs: Two to Five Years
Under the second part, the same act is punished more severely in two cases: where it was committed by a person already convicted for illegal abortion, or where it caused permanent infertility or another grave consequence. Such an act is punished by imprisonment for a term of two to five years, with deprivation of the right to hold a position and/or carry out an activity for a term of up to three years. The practical significance of the last sign is that a physician punished under this composition may be barred from medical activity for a definite term or permanently.
The Most Serious Composition: Causing Death
Under the third part, an illegal abortion that caused death is punished by imprisonment for a term of four to six years, with deprivation of the right to hold a position and/or carry out an activity for a term of up to three years. Here the case rests on the consequence: the prosecution must prove that the patient’s death is the result of exactly this intervention, and not of her prior state of health or another factor. This causal link is the defense’s main field of work in cases of this category.
How the Defense Approaches Such a Case
The defense’s first question is illegality: whether the established procedure for performing the abortion — the place, the term, the authority of the person performing it — was violated. If the intervention was performed within the rules, no criminal case exists at all. The second is the causal link to the consequence: infertility or death may have been caused by a separate disease, a prior intervention or the patient’s own conduct; all of this is established by a comprehensive medical expert examination. The third is the sign of a repeat conviction: the legal force of the prior punishment, the term of its consideration and the qualification must be re-verified separately. The fourth is the documentation of the patient’s informed consent: what information the patient had about the risks and how this is recorded in the documentation. The rules of investigation and expert examination are established by the norms of the Code and other laws, and their violation is an instrument of the defense.
The anatomy of such a case falls clearly into three layers. The first layer is the procedure of performance: where the intervention took place, who performed it, within which term, and what documentation accompanied the process. The second layer is the consequence: what happened to the patient after the intervention, how closely it is connected to the act, and what role the prior state of health played. The third layer is the person: whether the accused had a prior punishment for the same act and how correctly it is recorded. Each layer requires its own evidence, and the prosecution’s blending of the layers — for example, ascribing the consequence to the act without causation — is a direct target of the defense.
The factor of time is also decisive. In such cases the majority of evidence takes shape in the first days: the medical documentation, the patient’s statements, the assignment of the expert examination. Changing these materials later becomes difficult, which is why the defense position must be laid precisely at this stage — otherwise the case remains within the frame of the prosecution’s version, and every subsequent judicial step proceeds inside that frame, reducing the chances of challenge.
How Legal.ge Can Help
On the Legal.ge platform you can select a criminal defense lawyer working on medical cases. The lawyer will re-verify the medical documentation, request comprehensive expert examinations, assess the fact of the violation of the procedure, and protect your interests at every stage of the investigation and the trial. Fill in a request on the site — a lawyer will contact you and assess your case.