According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of global abortion rate has stayed relatively steady, about 28 to 29 abortions per 1,000 women annually. Unfortunately, the number of ‘unsafe’ abortions has increased in this most recent WHO report.
Unsafe abortions are defined as an abortion that was carried out without trained clinical help present, meaning outside a hospital, clinics, or medical surgeries. These unsafe abortions put women at high risk for infection and dangerous complications.
In 1995, 44 percent abortions were considered unsafe by WHO definition. The the WHO’s most recent abortion report, in 2008, 49 percent of abortion were unsafe, an increase from 1995.
These statistics are disturbing because unsafe abortions are a primary contributor to maternal deaths worldwide. Unsafe abortions are cause dangerous infections or excessive bleeding in women.
Developing nations disproportionately carry of the burden on unsafe abortions or regions with restrictive abortion laws. In Africa, nearly 97 percent of abortions are considered unsafe by WHO. Latin America has 95 percent of abortion defined unsafe. South central Asia and Europe have unsafe abortion rates of 65 percent and nine percent, respectively.
In addition, although the abortion rate is relatively steady, with a growing population that means the number of the actual abortions has actually increased. In 2008, there were 2.2 million more abortions than in 2003.
However, between 1995 and 2008, the abortion rate in developed nations has decreased from 36 percent to 26 percent. This means that abortion rate in developing nations is increasing during this time.
Experts predict that more liberal laws and birth control access reduce the number of the unwanted pregnancies and abortions.
With strict laws against abortions, it leads to 47,000 women death from unsafe abortions and about 8.5 million women enduring serious medical complications related to an abortion in 2008.
