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Report
Abortion & Unintended Pregnancy Decline Worldwide
But progress over past decade has been uneven, and unsafe
abortion remains a key challenge to women's health
Increases in global contraceptive use have contributed to a decrease in the
number of unintended pregnancies and, in turn, a decline in the number of abortions,
which fell from an estimated 45.5 million procedures in 1995 to 41.6 million
in 2003. While both the developed and the developing world experienced these
positive trends, developed regions saw the greatest progress. Within the developing
world, improvement varied widely, with Africa lagging behind other regions,
according to 'Abortion Worldwide: A Decade of Uneven Progress '- a major new
Guttmacher Institute report stated.
 The
decline in worldwide abortion occurred alongside a global trend toward liberalising
abortion laws. Nineteen countries have significantly reduced restrictions in
their abortion laws since 1997, while only three countries have substantially
increased legal restrictions. Despite these trends, 40 per cent of the world's
women live in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws, virtually all
of them in the developing world. In Africa, 92 per cent of reproductive-age
women live under highly restrictive abortion laws, and in Latin America , 97
per cent do so. These proportions have not changed markedly over the past decade.
The report finds that while the incidence of abortion is closely related to
that of unintended pregnancy, it does not correlate with abortion's legal status.
Indeed, abortion occurs at roughly equal rates in regions where it is broadly
legal and in regions where it is highly restricted. The key difference is safety-illegal,
clandestine abortions cause significant harm to women, especially in developing
countries.
"The progress made during the past decade in increasing contraceptive use
and reducing the need for abortion is fundamentally good news-the world is moving
in the right direction," says Sharon Camp, President and CEO of the Guttmacher
Institute. "And yet, we still have two widely disparate realities. In almost
all developed countries, abortion is safe and legal. But in much of the developing
world, abortion remains highly restricted, and unsafe abortion is common and
continues to damage women's health and threaten their survival."
Unsafe abortion causes an estimated 70,000 deaths each year, and an additional
five million women are treated annually for complications resulting from unsafe
abortion. Approximately three million women who experience serious complications
from unsafe procedures go untreated. Worldwide, the unintended pregnancy rate
declined from 69 per 1,000 women aged 15-44 in 1995 to 55 per 1,000 in 2008.
The proportion of married women using contraception increased from 54 per cent
in 1990 to 63 per cent in 2003. Increases also occurred among sexually active
single women. However, regional levels of contraceptive use varied greatly:
While 71 per cent of married women in Latin American and the Caribbean were
using contraceptives in 2003, only 28 per cent of married African women were
doing so. Nearly one in four married women in Africa had an unmet need for contraception
in 2002-2007, compared with 10-13 per cent of their counterparts in Asia and
in Latin America and the Caribbean .
"The evidence is strong and growing that empowering women with the means
to decide for themselves when to become pregnant and how many children to have
significantly lowers unintended pregnancy rates and thereby reduces the need
for abortion," added Dr Camp. Addressing the unmet need for contraception,
which remains very high in many parts of world, is critical in promoting the
well-being of women and their families. This is especially true in those parts
of the developing world where modern contraceptive use is still low and mortality
related to clandestine and unsafe abortion is high."
The new report makes three key recommendations:
- Expand access to modern contraceptives and improve
family planning services.
- Expand access to legal abortion and ensure that
safe and legal abortion services are available to women in need.
- Improve the coverage and quality of postabortion
care, which would reduce maternal death and complications from unsafe abortion.
EH News Bureau
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