Abortions are Unsafe!
(December
2006) The Population Reference Bureau’s recently updated guide, Unsafe
Abortion: Facts & Figures 2006, sheds light on the public health impact
of unsafe abortion. An estimated 68,000 girls and women die each year from
unsafe abortions and millions more suffer complications that need medical
attention.1
More than one-quarter of the world's people
live in countries where the procedure is prohibited or permitted only to
save the woman's life.2 Yet, regardless of legal status,
abortions still occur, and nearly half of them are performed by an unskilled
practitioner or in less than sanitary conditions, or both.3
And in 2006, two countries changed their
abortion laws: Columbia relaxed its ban and Nicaragua expanded its ban.
In May, Colombia’s highest court overturned the
country’s ban on abortion, allowing pregnancies to be terminated when a
deformed fetus is not viable, when the pregnancy endangers the life or
health of the mother, when artificial insemination or transfer of a fertile
egg occurs without the consent of the mother, or when pregnancy results from
rape or incest.4
In November, the president of Nicaragua signed
into law a broader ban on abortions—even in cases when a woman’s life could
be saved. Previous legislation allowed abortions if three doctors certified
that the procedure was necessary to save a woman’s life, in the case of
rape, or when the fetus was deformed and not viable. The new law would help
protect the right to life, which is upheld in the constitution, according to
a statement on the president’s website.5
No exceptions are allowed in cases of rape or
to save a mother's life. With this shift, Nicaragua joined El Salvador and
Chile as the only countries in the Western Hemisphere to place such a ban on
abortion.
In developing countries, about one in six
married women faces an "unmet need" for family planning. They would rather
not become pregnant, but are not using any form of contraception. Reducing
unmet need can help reduce unintended pregnancies, which lead to abortions
and unwanted births.6
References
- World Health Organization (WHO), Unsafe
Abortion: Global and Regional Estimates of the Incidence of Unsafe
Abortion and Associated Mortality in 2000, 4th ed. (2004).
- Deborah Mesce and Erin Sines, Unsafe
Abortion: Facts & Figures 2006 (Washington, DC: Population Reference
Bureau, 2006).
- Mesce and Sines, Unsafe Abortion: Facts
& Figures 2006.
- Republica de Colombia Corte Constitucional,
"Comunicado de Prensa Sobre la Sentencia Relativa al Delito de Aborto,
10 de Mayo de 2006"; and Juan Forero, "Colombia Court Legalizes Some
Abortions," New York Times, May 12, 2006.
- Joseph B. Frazier, "Nicaraguan President
Signs Abortion Ban," Associated Press, Nov. 18, 2006; and Republica de
Nicaragua Casa Presidencial, "Notas de Prensa del Presidente," accessed
online at www.presidencia.gob.ni, on Nov. 21, 2006.
- Lori S. Ashford, Unmet Need for Family
Planning (Washington, DC: Population Reference Bureau, 2003).
SOURCE:
Unsafe Abortion: Facts & Figures 2006 - Population Reference Bureau
