Is abortion legal in the UAE, and in what situations is it permitted?

Termination of pregnancy is legal in the UAE in defined circumstances, and a serious medical concern raised by your own doctor is precisely the situation the law addresses. Broadly, UAE law permits abortion where continuing the pregnancy endangers the mother's life or health, and where the fetus is diagnosed with a serious abnormality, with recent reforms having widened the permitted grounds further. These cases are subject to gestational limits and must be approved through a formal process: the assessment is made by a medical committee at a licensed health facility, which reviews the diagnosis and authorises the procedure where the legal conditions are met. That structure is worth understanding, because it means the decision does not rest on any single doctor's willingness — and it means asking is safe. You will not get into trouble for requesting an assessment; hospitals handle these referrals confidentially as part of normal clinical governance. The practical step is to ask your treating doctor, in the early window you are still in, to document the medical concern fully and refer your case to the committee at the hospital. Given time matters, do that promptly. A licensed UAE lawyer or the hospital's patient affairs office can walk you through the committee process in confidence.