The first relevant legislation accepting Abortion in Sweden was the Abortion Act of 1938. This stated that abortion can be legally performed if there are 1) medical 2) humanitarian or 3) "eugenical" ground for an abortion. That is, if the pregnancy constitutes a serious threat to the mother's life, if she was raped, or if there is a considerable chance that any serious disease might be inherited by the child a mother can request an abortion. The law was later augumented in 1946 (socio-medical grounds) and 1963 (risk of serious foetal damage). As investigating the grounds for an abortion was then put to a committee, this resulted in abortions often not being granted until late in the pregancy (mid-2nd trimester), this led to a new law.

The current legislation is the Abortion Act of 1974. This states that up until the end of the twelth week of the pregnancy the choice of an abortion is entirely up to the mother, for any reason whatsoever, as long as the abortion procedure does not constitute a serious threat to the mother's health. For the thirteenth through 18th week a "special investigation" has to be conducted to make sure that no serious threat to the mother's health is at hand. After the 18th week, abortions can only be conducted if there are "extraordinary circumstances", and never if the foetus is deemed "life-capable", i.e. can survive with the help of an incubator. In practice this means that abortions are never allowed after the 22nd week.

The issue is largely settled, the question of the legality of abortion is not a political issue, and no relevant debates exist on the matter.