Thursday, October 18, 2007

Unsafe abortions

The Herald reported a study on abortions worldwide, published in Lancet recently. It found that abortions occurred at about the same rate in countries where it was legal as in countries where it was legally restricted.

Inter alia, lead author Gilda Sedgh said that whether an abortion was safe or unsafe depended largely on whether it was legal; there was a higher incidence of unsafe abortions in countries with higher legal restrictions.

Sedgh: "The findings presented here indicate that unrestricted abortion laws do not predict a high level of abortion, and by the same token highly restrictive abortion laws are not associated with low abortion incidence."

The report summary also said:"Overall abortion rates are similar in the developing and developed world, but unsafe abortion is concentrated in developing countries. Ensuring that the need for contraception is met and that all abortions are safe will reduce maternal mortality substantially and protect maternal health."

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