A new report yet again highlighted that reducing the incidence of unsafe abortion would result in reduced maternal mortality and improved maternal health. And that the best way to make abortion less necessary is to help women avoid unwanted pregnancies by giving them access to contraceptives.

Although abortion rates in both developed and developing countries have declined, unsafe abortion remains concentrated in developing countries, putting more mothers in these countries at higher maternal mortality risk than in developed countries.   In regions where abortion rates dropped significantly, such in the case of Eastern Europe, the trend is credited to increased contraceptive use in the region. These findings are based on a new report, “Induced Abortion: Rates and Trends Worldwide,” from the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization (WHO) published last October 13, 2007 in the British medical journal, “The Lancet.”

“The widespread unmet need for contraception must be addressed if we are to see further decline in abortion rates, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where contraceptive use is low and unsafe abortion-related mortality is the high, compared with other regions,” said Dr. Paul F.A. Van Look, director of WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research.

According to the study, between 1995 and 2003, the number of induced abortions worldwide declined from nearly 46 million to under 42 million. This decline was most prominent in Europe, where the rate dropped from 48 to 28 abortions per 1,000 women. For 2003, the abortion rate was roughly equal in developed and developing regions—26 and 29, respectively—despite abortion being largely illegal in developing regions. However, health consequences vary greatly between the two regions, since abortion is generally safe where it is broadly legal and mostly unsafe where restricted. The consequences of unsafe abortion—death, serious injury, infertility, and increased health care costs are largely borne by poor women. The report concludes that reducing the incidence of unsafe abortion would result in an immediate and substantial reduction of maternal mortality and improve maternal health.

“The overall downward trend in abortion rates is encouraging, but positive change is happening too slowly and too unevenly across different regions,” said Dr. Sharon Camp, president and CEO of the Guttmacher Institute, an organisation committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health worldwide through research, policy analysis, and public education.

“We know, and the new evidence confirms yet again, that the best way to make abortion less necessary is to help women avoid unwanted pregnancies in the first place. And we know that the crucial first step in making abortion safer is to legalise the procedure, ensuring that it is performed by skilled providers under the best possible conditions. It’s high time for policymakers worldwide to renew their commitment to women’s health by addressing these crucial issues,” Camp added.

Sources:
“Abortion declines worldwide, falls most where abortion is broadly legal” from Guttmacher Institute, posted on October 11, 2007, <http://www.guttmacher.org/media/nr/2007/10/11/index.html>.
“Induced abortion: estimated rates and trends worldwide” from The Lancet, posted on October 13, 2007, <http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS014067360761575X/abstract>.