Unsafe abortions rise as contraceptive funding is cut

Global abortion rates have stopped falling, ending a period of rapid decline that began in 1995. However, the proportion of abortions that are dangerous continues to rise. Paradoxically, morally conservative US restrictions on foreign aid may have promoted the abortions they sought to restrict.

In 1995, 35 women of childbearing age out of every 1000 had an abortion; by 2003, the rate had dropped to 29 abortions per 1000 women. Now, Gilda Sedgh of the Guttmacher Institute in New York City and colleagues have compiled data on abortions around the world in 2008 and found that the rate then was 28 per 1000 women, little changed since 2003. However, because world population has grown, there were actually 2.2 million more abortions performed in 2008 than in 2003.

The proportion of those abortions that are dangerous is rising, though. Nearly all abortions performed in Africa in 2008 were deemed unsafe.

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TAGGED: HARM, MEDICINE


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