Some scary stats on abortion worldwide.
NEW YORK – While contraceptive use is increasing worldwide, helping fuel a drop in the number of abortions, unintended pregnancies and deaths from unsafe abortion remain rampant in many developing nations, a research institute reported Tuesday in a major global survey.
Sub-Saharan Africa was singled out as the region with by far the lowest rates of contraceptive use and the highest rates of unsafe abortions and unintended pregnancies.
[…]
In one example, the report told of a Nigerian woman named Victoria who first tried to induce an abortion by drinking an herbal concoction, then consulted a traditional healer who inserted leaves in her vagina that caused internal injuries.
This makes me so sad. I’m sure there are many reasons why so many women in developing countries would seek an abortion, regardless of how unsafe it is, and that the problem there is overwhelmingly complex. I, for one, am overwhelmed.
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Andrea adds: I agree with Melissa in the comments–this is the Guttmacher after all–and they don’t know a legal abortion they didn’t love, and an illegal one they didn’t want to legalize. The reality is that legalizing abortion the globe over is their goal and so I for one, will take this report with a more than a grain of salt. More like a salt mine. (And to tangentially inform our readers, and clutter this site with useless information, I have visited one, in Poland. Amazing.)
by 
This report is from the Guttmacher institute–take it with a grain of salt. The thing that disturbs me most about this institute is they equate legal abortions with safe abortions, and they equate illegal abortions with unsafe abortions.
I’m firmly on the pro-choice side, and even I wouldn’t trust the Guttmacher Institute :>
The legal=safe, illegal=unsafe association isn’t perfectly accurate, but for these purposes it’s close enough. Legal abortions are not entirely risk free, true, but then neither is pregnancy – and they are undoubtably safer than illegal abortions.
The BBC covers this too: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8305217.stm
If those statistics are accurate, they would appear to indicate that the most effective means of reducing abortion rates, at least in the more developed world, is the promotion of contraception.
The case of El Salvador (mentioned in the newstory) is very interesting to refute their claim: http://www.cmaj.ca/cgi/eletters/180/3/272
Epidemiology of abortion and maternal mortality are largely based on statistical estimates that lend themselves to inaccuracies (2). In order to asses objectively this problem, the case of El Salvador might present an interesting real life example that might cast serious doubt on this hypothesis.
El Salvador criminalized abortion for all reasons in 1998. Maternal mortality ratio (MMR per 100,000 live birth) prior to 1998 was calculated to be 155 (3). In 2006, the Salvadorian Ministry of Health completed the most comprehensive study carried out so far to evaluate true MMR in the country (3). This study was funded by the U.S. Center of Disease Control (CDC), the WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA and USAID. In addition, technical assistance and supervision was provided by the WHO and U.S. CDC. In short, the study was a prospective reproductive-age mortality study (RAMOS). This approach involved identifying and investigating the causes of all deaths of women of reproductive age (10 to 54) in El Salvador from June 2005 to May 2006 by using multiple sources of data ( interviews of family members, vital registrations, health facility records, burial records, traditional birth attendants). It is recognized that if properly conducted, this approach provides a fairly complete estimation of maternal mortality (3).
The study found that the MMR was 71.2. Out of 2,468 all-cause deaths, pregnancy related deaths numbered 100. 50 cases related directly to pregnancy complications, 32 cases indirectly to the pregnancy, and 18 non- related to the pregnancy. Out of the 32 indirect cases, 13 were due to suicide related to the pregnancy. Out of the 50 direct cases, 6 deaths were related to abortion as follows: 1 septic abortion, 2 ectopic pregnancies, and 3 indirect deaths after having completed the induced abortion. 5 out of these 6 cases were handled in tertiary care centers.
Concluding, there seems to be no evidence that overall maternal mortality has worsen in El Salvador since the criminalization of abortion. Second, most of cases of maternal deaths in El Salvador are unfortunately due to common preventable medical complications. Third, it is also unfortunate that a significant mortality is due to suicide. No clear connection can be drawn here since suicide and maternal psychiatric morbidity seems to be also increased with induced abortions (4). At the end,what it is important is to provide health education and material support to pregnant women in the third world.
1. Cook RJ, Transparency in the delivery of lawful abortion services CMAJ 2009; 180: 272-273
2. WHO. Maternal Mortality in 2005 Estimates developed by WHO, UNICEF, UNFPA, and the World Bank. Geneva: World Health Organization, 2007.
3. Gerencia de Atención Integral en Salud a la Mujer. Linea de Base de Mortalidad Materna en El Salvador. Junio 2005-Mayo 2006. Ministry of Public Health and Social Assistance. San Salvador. El Salvador. 2007. 2nd edition. http://www.mspas.gob.sv/p_attmujer.asp(Accessed February 2, 2009)
4. Gissler M, Berg C, Bouvier-Colle MH, Buekens P. Injury deaths, suicides and homicides associated with pregnancy, Finland 1987-2000. Eur J Public Health. 2005 Oct;15(5):459-63
I’m so glad that someone has finally mentioned this.
I get so sick of hearing people say, “There’s nothing wrong with abortion. No big deal.”
Then you see these numbers and think, “Uh…very big deal.”
Abortion is violent and a sign of injustice, legal or illegal. And let us not forget that it is not illegal abortion that kills people, it’s abortion.
So I’m glad that people are finally starting to think, “Well, let’s get rid of abortion then.”
Witness…the return of logic.
But, alas, this happiness is short-lived when I remember that there are women and children still dying from this…
I’ve been to that salt mine too!
I stopped reading after the first sentence. “Contraceptive use is increasing worldwide, helping fuel a drop in the number of abortions, unintended pregnancies and deaths from unsafe abortion”? Give me a break!