Report: Laws Don't Affect Abortion Rates

Eight-Year Worldwide Study Also Found That Half Of All Abortions Are Unsafe

(AP)  Women are just as likely to get an abortion in countries where it is outlawed as they are in countries where it is legal, according to research published Friday.

In a study examining abortion trends from 1995 to 2003, experts also found that abortion rates are virtually equal in rich and poor countries, and that half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe.

The study was done by Gilda Sedgh of the Guttmacher Institute in the United States and colleagues from the World Health Organization. It was published in an edition of The Lancet medical journal devoted to maternal health.

“The legal status of abortion has never dissuaded women and couples, who, for whatever reason, seek to end pregnancy,” Beth Fredrick of the International Women's Health Coalition in the U.S. said in an accompanying commentary.

Abortion accounts for 13 percent of maternal mortality worldwide. About 70,000 women die every year from unsafe abortions. An additional 5 million women suffer permanent or temporary injury.

“The continuing high incidence of unsafe abortion in developing countries represents a public health crisis and a human rights atrocity,” Fredrick wrote.

The number of worldwide abortions has dipped from about 46 million in 1995 to just under 42 million in 2003. But there was no change in the rate of unsafe abortions; nearly half the procedures are still performed illegally in potentially dangerous conditions.

“The only way to decrease unsafe abortion is to increase contraception,” said Sharon Camp, president and chief executive officer of the Guttmacher Institute.

Camp said that more countries are allowing women to have abortions legally, but many women only receive medical attention after a procedure has gone wrong. “I don't think women should have to hurt themselves before they get medical treatment,” she said.

The vast majority of abortions - 35 million - were in the developing world. And nearly 97 percent of all unsafe abortions were in poor countries. Worldwide, one in five pregnancies ends in abortion.

The study defined unsafe abortions as those performed either by people lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that does not conform to minimum medical standards.

In eastern Europe, there are more abortions than live births: 105 abortions for every 100 live births, the research found. In Western Europe, there are 23 abortions for every 100 live births.

In North America, there are 33 abortions for every 100 live births, while in Africa, where abortion is illegal in most countries, there are 17 abortions for every 100 live births.

Improving women's health, experts said, means improving access to safe abortions. Some experts criticized the restrictions that often come with donor money. Funds from the U.S. government, for example, cannot be used in any health services associated with abortion.

Because providing safe abortions depends on a working health care system, experts said tackling the problem is difficult.

In related papers published in The Lancet this week, experts said there has been little improvement in helping women survive pregnancy and childbirth in the last two decades, particularly in the world's poorest countries.

Unlike improving child health, which can be done relatively easily by things like immunizing children against various diseases, “you can't give women a pill for obstetric complications,” said Ann Starrs, executive vice president for Family Care International in the U.S., who was not linked to the study.

Competing with other health issues for limited health dollars is also a problem.

“Donors love to distribute bed nets for malaria because it's simple to do and it's easy to show the progress you've made,” said Dr. Lale Say, a WHO maternal health expert. “But unfortunately for women's health, there is no single strategy that will work everywhere.”

[klingon69]

afmca - Bravo! (Brava!?) I''''ll take it one step farther. Until one has experienced the desperation of an unplanned pregnancy, with multiple mouths to feed (alone) already, one really should not judge. No one can say what they would do in any given situation, until actually in that situation. To do otherwise is foolish. In the situation mentioned above, the decision is between the woman and her God.

I am inerested in the statistics -- just how many pro-lifers are adopters???
Posted by Hedonist3 at 10:45 PM : Oct 11, 2007
Don''t know how many. However, to answer your statements, why did the woman not think of that and use protection prior to doing the act? Pregnancy requires two persons. Make the man wear a condom, use birthcontrol pills, heck, there are hundreds of contraceptive items available OTC.

[klingon69]

Posted by MyIDonCBS at 10:14 PM : Oct 11, 2007
You friend have problems. Speaking as a Christian,(this means I am a believer in Jesus Christ and try to follow his teachings as best I can), I do not attend a church, do not need a windbag to tell me how my relationship with God/Jesus is. I don''t need someone telling me what I must do. However, I do take offense at your rant. I personally don''t agree with abortion, I do support capital punishment because the one being terminated had a choice in life, an unborn child does not. Anyway, I digress, if a woman wants/needs an abortion, that should be nobody''s business but hers, the doctor, the father and whatever diety she believes in. I however don''t feel that it sould be used as birth-control(and there are quite a few that do use it for that) and I don''t want to subsidize(sp) abortions with my tax dollars. As for around the world, let them worry about their own yards.

[grammawhamma]

Gaye5: I am also not a religious freak...but I see abortion as legal murder. The big arguement we always hear is that the woman should have the choice to do with her body as she sees fit. If that is the case why do we call 911 to prevent a suicidal woman from jumping off a bridge?

[gaye5]

27 Aug 2004 Andrew Bolt Herald Sun.....
Coroner Greg Cavanagh was asked which of all the deaths he''d investigated, from murders to suicides, had been the hardest to handle.

It was, he replied instantly, the death six years ago of unwanted Jessica Jane, who was born alive in an abortion, plopped into a kidney dish, and left alone in a room to cry for help that never came, until she died, 80 minutes later.

It was a death of the kind he says is almost always kept hidden by doctors - of aborted children born alive.
How else could I react, when I hear of the killing technique of a late-term abortionist such as Dr David Grundmann, who stabs a baby''s head before birth, and sucks out its brains to make it easier to deliver?
He told us 98 per cent of abortions were done not because the baby being carried had abnormalities. They were done because the mother -- or both parents -- simply didn''t want it.
.......................
Surely there can be 1,287,000 mothers at risk of dying in one year that have to have abortions...

[gaye5]

The fact is, there were NOT thousands of deaths prior to Roe vs. Wade. In 1972, the year before Roe, only 39 abortion related deaths were reported (by emergency rooms and morgues) to the Centers for Disease Control, and today there is about the same. so the people who make millions out of abortions have spun a mass of lies to keep their gravy train going..

United States abortion rates, data
1960... 292 abortions..
1966... 1,028 abortions.
1970... 193,491 abortions.

1973....744,600 now legal abortions.WOW what a jump.
1978... 1,409,600 now legal abortions.
1983... 1,575,000 now legal abortions..
1990... 1,608,600..
2003... down to 1,287,000..
Yep, we can sure see here how making abortion legal doesn''t effect the number that is aborted eh.

[gaye5]

kansas1946 said...About 70,000 women die every year from unsafe abortions, and you also said, They don''''t care about babies, what they care about is promoting their religious beliefs.

I am not religious and I am against abortions..a woman has every right to do with her body what she wants, but she has no right to kill another persons body..

kansas1946, it is not about religion is also about health.. People say that illegal abortions can kill, but people dont seem to realise that so do legal abortions...
During 2001--2002 reported to CDC (the most recent years for which data is available), 15 women died as a result of complications from known legal induced abortion.
As of November 1st 2002, the Department of Health and Human Services modified the definition of a child, which was from conception till the age of 19.

[mcvet]

who said these words?? Hitler, nah, just the founder of planned parenthood the lagest abortion provider. Oh, and by the way...why is that we see all sorts of medical procedures on tv and news, yet.....no one actually gets to see the abortion, i mean the fact that 80% are elective and that some will never be able to have kids again....anyhow, to answer wether or not the people adopt ...do you know how hard it is to adopt here in the US, people actually have to go to other countries to do so. I do not judge anyone, I just feel we should see the whole story as well, lets show the men some respect since they are half of the producers of the fetus, glob, baby whatever...yeah.???? I mean when the babies are born aren''''t men demanded to pay child support...but if it is aborted they never had a right to it????




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Posted by Smaq1971 at 11:10 PM : Oct 11, 2007
+ report abuse

What good do these lies and distortions do? Do you honestly think you are going to end Abortions? It''s just something for Politician''s to use to get you fools to vote against your better interest that''s all. Abortions were going on BEFORE Roe Vs. Wade and they will go on after, even if you can bring the iron boot of the Government down on them. This is NO business of anyone''s and it''s only driving women back into back alleys and to Coat Hangers... it''s not going to stop them. Sieg Heil and Amen.

[mcvet]

However, do you ever wish your mom would have aborted you if she would have known that you would be disabled? Or are you glad to be alive?


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Posted by GrammaWhamma at 04:31 AM : Oct 12, 2007
+ report abuse

God but you religious Fascist are the worst! That is NOT what PRO Choice is about you pathetic loser!! Pro Choice means EXACTLY what it say''s... we believe that GOVERNMENT nor you freaks have any business in the lives of Women. In College, before Roe Vs. Wade, I knew a very good lady. She was absolutely great to be around and she was a "Christian" from a "Christian Family". Well she went out with her boyfriend one night and things went to far as has been know to happen between young people. She was trapped and felt no way out so she went to a back ally Doc. Killed her! She''s gone for no other reason than she couldn''t get a safe Abortion. As long as there are frigthened Girls or desperate Wives in this nation there are going to be Abortions... that''s just a fact. The only question is will the be safe or not. Sieg Heil and Amen.

[grammawhamma]

There are times when an abortion is needed for health reasons. If she can''''t bear children for health reasons then her tubes should be fixed so no babies.It is her business not ours if she had abortion or not.


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Posted by MichelleM99 at 02:37 AM : Oct 12, 2007


Michelle: I always read and enjoy your posts. I know you are multi-handicapped and had a hard childhood. I know you had your self fixed which was your choice and I think the noble choice. However, do you ever wish your mom would have aborted you if she would have known that you would be disabled? Or are you glad to be alive?

[michellem99-2009]

I was a high school pupil in the 70s. I heard talk of ladies and the back alley. It sounded barbaric..There are times when an abortion is needed for health reasons. If she can''t bear children for health reasons then her tubes should be fixed so no babies.It is her business not ours if she had abortion or not.