Safe abortion accessibility saves millions. Falcon ‘22 further quantifies
The World Health Organization estimates that 30 women die for every 100,000 unsafe abortions in developed regions, while 220 women die for every 100,000 unsafe abortions in developing regions, where abortion access is limited or impossible. The term “unsafe” refers to both self-induced methods and illegal procedures performed by non-physicians. At least 22,800 women die each year from unsafe abortions, per a 2018 report from Guttmacher Institute, a reproductive health research and policy nonprofit. The researchers analyzed death information available through the year 2014. Overall, WHO says 7 million women per year went to the hospital after unsafe abortions in developing areas alone, per 2012 estimates. Forty-five percent of all induced abortions are unsafe, the organization says. Methods of unsafe self-induced or illegal abortions can be violent, including sharp objects being inserted through the vagina or ingestion of toxic substances, Doctors Without Borders explains. Ninety-seven percent of all unsafe abortions take place in developing countries, where access to abortion is limited or impossible, WHO reports. DWB backs up this figure, explaining the organization works in many of these regions performing daily traumatic care to women who are hurt from unsafe abortions. Non-fatal trauma of unsafe abortions include, sepsis and unintended organ puncturing. DWB says these conditions often require major surgeries or “the complete, and irreversible removal of the uterus.” Irrespective of induced abortions, current data point to more deaths during childbirth where abortion access is limited. In their peer-reviewed study “Unsafe Abortion: Unnecessary Maternal Mortality,” researchers at Harvard Medical School’s Brigham and Women’s Hospital, explained the correlation between outlawed abortion and an increase in female mortality during live births, citing Romanian laws banning the procedure in the 1960s and its reversal in the 1980s. Researchers say deaths per 100,000 ballooned from 20 to 148. Within only a year of the reversal, researchers say the number dropped to 68 deaths per 100,000 live births. The ratio was down to nine deaths per 100,000 by 2002, they write. A blanket ban of abortion in the U.S. would lead to a 21% increase of pregnancy-related deaths overall, a study from the University of Colorado Boulder found. Researchers only included numbers related to the actual pregnancy and delivery, saying: “Any increased death due to unsafe abortions or attempted abortions would be in addition to these estimates.”
Share with your friends: |
