I am not an Israeli resident. Can I get a pregnancy terminated in Israel, and do I have to go before a committee?

Israel regulates termination of pregnancy through the criminal code rather than through a dedicated health statute, which surprises most people arriving from elsewhere. Sections 312 to 321 of the Penal Law 5737-1977 make the procedure lawful only where a physician performs it in a recognised medical institution after a termination of pregnancy committee has approved it. Nothing in that framework turns on citizenship or residence. What turns on residence is the bill.

---

Detailed Answer

Section 316(a) lists the grounds on which a committee may approve a termination after receiving the woman's informed consent. The first is age, where the woman is below the age of marriage or has reached forty. The second covers a pregnancy resulting from relations prohibited under the criminal law or from incest, and a pregnancy outside marriage. The third is a physical or mental defect in the foetus. The fourth is a risk to the woman's life, or to her physical or mental health, from continuing the pregnancy. Around thirty eight committees operate in public and private hospitals across the country, each made up of two licensed physicians, one of them a specialist in obstetrics and gynaecology, together with a social worker, with at least one member a woman. The Penal Law (Termination of Pregnancy) Regulations 5738-1978 govern the paperwork. A reform that took effect in 2022 removed several of the older obstacles: applications may be submitted online and stored digitally, the applicant is no longer questioned about contraception, the compulsory meeting with a social worker was abolished, and where it is medically suitable a medication termination may be carried out under the supervision of a community clinic rather than in hospital. Approval rates have long been very high, so in practice the committee functions as a documented gateway rather than as a real filter.

For a woman who does not live in Israel the friction is administrative and financial rather than legal. She has no kupat holim, so nobody manages the file for her, and the hospital's international patients department becomes the point of contact. The committee will want identity documents, a physician's confirmation or an ultrasound establishing gestational age and the location of the pregnancy, and a signed informed consent form, and where those documents come from abroad a Hebrew or English version is expected. The National Health Insurance Law 5754-1994 confines the funded basket to residents, so none of the subsidy that an Israeli woman in the relevant age band receives is available. Gestational age drives both the route and the price, since a later procedure requires an inpatient stay that is charged separately. Non-residents dealing with an Israeli hospital for anything have the same statutory rights to information and consent as anyone else, which our answer on what patient rights a non-resident has in an Israeli hospital sets out in full.

In Practice: Sections 312 to 321 of the Penal Law 5737-1977 make lawful termination conditional on approval by a termination of pregnancy committee, with the grounds set out in Section 316(a) and the procedure in the Penal Law (Termination of Pregnancy) Regulations 5738-1978. Roughly 38 committees sit in recognised medical institutions, each comprising two physicians and a social worker. Since the 2022 reform applications may be filed online and a medication termination may be supervised by a community clinic. The National Health Insurance Law 5754-1994 basket does not reach non-residents, so a visitor pays privately, commonly about NIS 6,000 before week 17 and materially more once an inpatient stay is needed, with a committee decision usually issued within a few days of a complete file.

When to Consult a Lawyer

• The pregnancy is beyond 24 weeks. Late applications go to a differently constituted committee, the evidential threshold is far higher, and a file assembled without Israeli medical and legal input is unlikely to succeed within the time available.
• You are a minor, or the pregnancy arose from a criminal offence committed abroad. Both engage grounds in Section 316(a) that require supporting documentation from your home country, and how that evidence is presented affects whether the committee can act on it.
• The hospital has quoted a figure and asked for payment or a guarantee in advance. Non-resident pricing is not regulated in the way the resident basket is, and the quotation, the deposit and what happens if the procedure is not approved are all worth reviewing before you pay.

---

Speak With an Israeli Attorney

We deal with the hospital's international patients department, make sure the committee file is complete and correctly translated, and review the pricing and consent documents you are asked to sign.

Contact us for a confidential initial consultation.