Community | October 21, 2009 | 22 comments

Unsafe Abortions Kill 70,000 Women Yearly Worldwide

source: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/13/us/AP-US-Abortion-Worldwide.html?_r=2

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Future_America

http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/10/13/us/AP-US-Abortion-Worldwid...

Increased contraceptive use has led to fewer abortions worldwide, but deaths from unsafe abortion remain a severe problem, killing 70,000 women a year, a research institute reported Tuesday in a major global survey.

More than half the deaths, about 38,000, are in sub-Saharan Africa, which was singled out as the region with by far the lowest rates of contraceptive use and the highest rates of unintended pregnancies.

The report, three years in the making, was compiled by the New York-based Guttmacher Institute, which supports abortion rights and is a leading source of data on abortion-related trends. Researchers examined data from individual countries and multinational organizations.

The institute's president, Sharon Camp, said she was heartened by the overall trends since Guttmacher conducted a similar survey in 1999, yet expressed concern about the gap revealed in the new report.

Guttmacher estimated previously that the number of abortions worldwide fell from 45.5 million in 1995 to 41.6 million in 2003 -- the latest year for which global figures were available.

A key reason for that drop, the new report said, was that the portion of married women using contraception increased from 54 percent in 1990 to 63 percent in 2003 as availability increased and social mores changed. Guttmacher's researchers said contraceptive use had increased in every major region, but still lagged badly in Africa -- used by only 28 percent of married women there, compared with at least 68 percent in other major regions.

The report notes that abortions worldwide are declining even as more countries liberalize their abortion laws. Since 1997, it said, only three countries -- Poland, Nicaragua and El Salvador -- substantially increased restrictions on abortion, while laws were eased significantly in 19 countries and regions, including Cambodia, Nepal and Mexico City.

Despite this trend, the report said 40 percent of the world's women live in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws, virtually all of them in the developing world. This category includes 92 percent of the women in Africa and 97 percent in Latin America, it said.

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.

The report estimated that 19.7 million of the 41.6 million abortions in 2003 were unsafe -- either self-induced, performed by unskilled practitioners or carried out in unhygienic surroundings.

The survey concluded that abortion occurs at roughly equal rates in countries where it is legal and where it is highly restricted. The key difference, according to the report, is the high rate of deaths and medical complications from unsafe clandestine abortions in the restrictive countries.

The report makes three major recommendations:

--Expand access to modern contraceptives and improve family planning services.

--Expand access to legal abortion and ensure that safe, legal abortion services are available to women in need.
--Improve the coverage and quality of post-abortion care, which would reduce maternal death and complications from unsafe abortion.

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22 comments // Unsafe Abortions Kill 70,000 Women Yearly Worldwide

  • artemis6
    • 0
      artemis6  

    • Well pointed out , Edjoy . Decisions based on only one criteria are rarely sound . Life is too diverse to be thought of like that . If women had strong support systems to help raise these children , it would be good . It still would not eradicate abortion , due to health and safety reasons . Nature causes spontaneous abortions , miscarriages , for good reasons . Even in the best of circumstances should a couple be condemned to care for a child with so many defects it needs 24 hour care all it's life ? The people directly involved have a better chance of making the best choice in a sad situation . Let then do it for heaven's sake . Not your life .

    • 3 years ago
  • EdJoyProductions
    • 0
      EdJoyProductions  

    • I am not sure that the pro-lifers are taking into consideration that in many of the areas that women are dying, they are subject to gang rape as a political means of control and instilling fear in the population.

      To the male pro-lifers: Please at least try to put yourself in the position of a woman that has been tortured and raped and then forced to carry the embryo of the very person/people that raped and tortured her. I do not know if you can even imagine that properly. Not to mention the life that unborn child is going to come into if it makes it to term.

    • 3 years ago
  • fun_size
    • 0
      fun_size  

    • This is sad. If only most religions didnt make contraceptives and abortions a sin they would be able to get abortions done by medical professionals.

    • 3 years ago
  • My_America
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • My_America:

      This is the crucial difference between pro and antiabortion people.

      Someone who is pro-abortion considers a CURRENT human being to be important than a POTENTIAL human being.

      It's not a baby, it's a fetus. Most abortions occur before the person has even developed a heart, let alone a brain or a nervous system.

      But killing live women with families, friends and lovers who have lived for decades just a drop in the bucket?

      Who's really fucked up in the head here?

    • 3 years ago
  • My_America
    • 0
      My_America  
    • My_America:

      You say "CURRENT human being" lets add one word to that " CURRENT murdering human being". At least you properly stated the position "Pro-Abortion".

      It is a living person when the heart is beating. When you purposely/intentionally stop the heart is call murder.

      ABORTERS ARE THE "really fucked up in the head here".

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
    • 0
      Saladin  
    • My_America:

      Ok then, fine. It's a living person when the heart starts beating.

      That doesn't happen until about four months into the pregnancy.

      Oh, what's that? The vast majority of abortions happen in the first or second month? Hurray! No more problems right?

      Or is there some other reason you don't like this?

    • 3 years ago
  • My_America
    • 0
      My_America  
    • My_America:

      Obviously you never been a father or a preggo mother.

      You say regarding heartbeat "That doesn't happen until about four months into the pregnancy.". REALLY I heard my twin Girls hearbeats at 6 weeks.

      Is 6 weeks > or < to 4 months (here is a hint 4 months = 16 weeks). Educate yourself.

      What is your position on late term abortion or post birth abortion?

      You say "Or is there some other reason you don't like this?" 'Like' what Abortion/Murder. No there is no other reason. Tell me the reason why you like ABORTIONS/MURDER?

    • 3 years ago
  • My_America
    • 0
      My_America  
    • My_America:

      My belief the only reason for an abortion is for the immediate health of the mother.

      I sympathized for rape and incest victims but abortion is not a valid answer. If the mother would not want to keep these children an adoption (the other "A" word is an option).

      You bring up "Freedom" and I agree so what about the Freedom of the unborn child. We do need more freedom but not the freedom to murder.

    • 3 years ago
  • My_America
  • fun_size
    • 0
      fun_size  
    • My_America:

      @My_America

      So do you adopt children? I figure that people that care so much about not aborting children should adopt. Obviously the child's life is super important so they should have a good home to live in with a nice and loving family.

      I mean otherwise youre being pretty hypocritical. Why bring a child into this world only to abandon them and hope they are the pick of the litter at some orphanage somewhere?

    • 3 years ago
  • My_America
    • 0
      My_America  
    • My_America:

      @ FUN SIZE
      Only for the purpose of this response I will mention that my son is adopted beyond that he is my son as if it were blood.

      There is no hypocrisy if I never adopted a child. There are many parents out there waiting to adopt a child. We as a society need to make the adoption process easier and not process to abort/murder children easier.

    • 3 years ago
  • humanpasta
    • 0
      humanpasta  

    • There are sensible, inexpensive and safe methods of conraception available now, and they need to be made more readily available to places where they are needed the most. the more educated people are about sex and birth control, the lower number of unwanted pregnancies, thus less abortions.

    • 3 years ago
  • masterzip
    • 0
      masterzip  

    • When does life begin? at conception or on the date of birth?

      when did life begin? 10,000 years ago or trillions of years ago?

    • 3 years ago
  • freshfish
    • 0
      freshfish  

    • Making it illegal causes the unsafe abortions, thats why it is legal in the states.

      Killing a baby that is inside of you is hard and a damaging procedure mentally and physically. I cant beleive a woman would do this if she didnt have valid reason. And to be honest that reason should be protected under doctor patient privileage and should be between her and that doctor.

      Until that baby is out of the mother it is hers and hers alone. As horrible as it sounds to perform late term abortions, its just as horrible to bring a child into this world when you cant feed, care or love that child.

    • 3 years ago
  • OnlyCheryl
    • 0
      OnlyCheryl  

    • Religion is the evil behind this. All religions subjugate women. Reproductive choice is a private matter and no one has the right to interfere with that - especially not a bunch of delusional nut jobs with their imaginary friends.

      Free vasectomies? A rational man might accept that option, but it is difficult to find one in third world countries where religion dominates and part of a man's worth is determined by how many women he impregnates. Even in the US there are men who like to boast about getting a woman pregnant.

      What is needed is to get religion out of politics so rational minds will prevail, and such barbaric and restrictive laws regarding personal choice are repealed.

    • 3 years ago
  • artemis6
  • dv627univ
    • 0
      dv627univ  

    • There just isn't a way to express the issue of life or death choices only god decides when your time comes......

      No doctors, drugs or money can change that.......

    • 3 years ago
  • Saladin
  • EdJoyProductions
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