WILLEMSTAD – Nine women residing in Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten underwent abortions in the Netherlands in 2025, according to newly published figures from the Dutch Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ). The figures mark the first time Dutch health authorities have separately registered patients from the three autonomous Caribbean countries, highlighting the lack of comparable information about abortion procedures performed on the islands themselves.
The figures were published in the inspectorate's latest annual report on abortion care in the Netherlands.
Since January 1, 2025, Dutch hospitals and abortion clinics have been able to identify whether a patient resides in Curaçao, Aruba or Sint Maarten. Previously, women from these countries were included in a broader category covering other countries.
The nine registered procedures represent the combined total for all three islands. The report does not specify how many women came from each country.
Importantly, the figures cover only abortions performed in the Netherlands. They do not include procedures carried out in Curaçao, Aruba, Sint Maarten or other countries.
Consequently, the report does not provide a complete picture of abortion rates among women living in the three Caribbean countries.
Abortion Remains Criminalized in Curaçao
Unlike the Netherlands, where abortion has been regulated by law since 1984, Curaçao continues to maintain criminal provisions prohibiting abortion.
However, since 1999, the island has operated under a policy of tolerance in which physicians perform abortions during the first trimester of pregnancy.
This means that abortions are carried out in practice despite the absence of a comprehensive legal framework comparable to the Dutch system.
In the Netherlands, hospitals and abortion clinics must meet licensing requirements and report abortion procedures to the national health inspectorate.
Curaçao does not have a comparable publicly available national registration system that provides reliable, up-to-date statistics on the number of abortions performed locally.
As a result, it remains unclear how many pregnancies are terminated on the island each year.
One of the few available studies was conducted by general practitioner Adriana Boersma, who completed doctoral research at the University of Groningen in 2011.
Her research found that 11 of the 102 general practitioners practicing in Curaçao at the time performed abortions.
The study estimated an abortion rate of 38 per 1,000 women of reproductive age, substantially higher than the rate recorded in the Netherlands during that period.
However, those findings are approximately 15 years old and cannot be used to determine the current number of abortions in Curaçao.
Changes in healthcare access, contraception, population characteristics and reproductive healthcare practices may have influenced developments since the study was conducted.
Similar Legal Situation in Aruba and Sint Maarten
Aruba and Sint Maarten also maintain criminal restrictions on abortion, although pregnancy terminations are performed in practice.
Neither country has a comprehensive legal framework equivalent to the Dutch legislation governing abortion services.
In Aruba, the Criminal Code contains provisions criminalizing both the person performing an abortion and the woman undergoing the procedure.
Sint Maarten also prohibits abortion under criminal law, with an exception when termination is necessary to save the woman's life.
As in Curaçao, recent and nationally comparable statistics on abortion procedures, access to services and the circumstances under which abortions are performed are not publicly available.
The absence of comprehensive data makes it difficult to assess the actual demand for abortion services or determine whether women encounter barriers to obtaining medical care.
Different Rules Within the Kingdom
The legal situation contrasts sharply with that of the Caribbean Netherlands.
Dutch abortion legislation also applies to Bonaire, Sint Eustatius and Saba, where abortion procedures are included in the national registration system.
According to the IGJ report, 176 abortions were performed across the three Caribbean Netherlands islands in 2025.
Of these, 12 procedures took place during the second trimester of pregnancy.
The figures also include abortions performed by general practitioners, providing a broader picture of abortion care than is currently available for Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten.
The differences demonstrate how abortion laws and reporting requirements vary considerably among the countries and territories within the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
United Nations Calls for Legal Reform
The legal situation in the three autonomous Caribbean countries has also attracted international attention.
In February 2026, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women called on Aruba, Curaçao and Sint Maarten to reform their abortion legislation.
The committee expressed concern that criminalizing abortion can contribute to inequality and health risks, particularly for women with limited financial resources and those without legal residency documents.
The UN committee recommended that abortion be permitted at least in cases involving rape, incest, threats to a woman's life or health, and serious fetal abnormalities.
It also called for access to safe and affordable abortion services.
The recommendations have renewed attention on the differences in reproductive healthcare legislation within the Kingdom.
While the Netherlands and the Caribbean Netherlands operate under a regulated system with mandatory reporting, the three autonomous Caribbean countries continue to face questions about legal protection, healthcare access and the availability of reliable statistics.
The nine abortions recorded in the Netherlands in 2025 therefore represent only a small part of a much broader issue.
Without comprehensive registration of procedures performed locally, it remains impossible to establish the total number of abortions involving women residing in Curaçao, Aruba and Sint Maarten.
The newly published figures provide additional information about women who traveled to the Netherlands for abortion care, but they also underscore the continuing lack of transparency surrounding abortion statistics in the Caribbean countries of the Kingdom.