By MARIA CHENG AP Medical Writer
LONDON - Women are just as likely to get an abortion in countries
where it is outlawed as they are in countries where it is legal,
according to research published Friday.
In a study examining abortion trends from 1995 to 2003, experts also
found that abortion rates are virtually equal in rich and poor
countries, and that half of all abortions worldwide are unsafe.
The study was done by Gilda Sedgh of the Guttmacher Institute in the
United States and colleagues from the World Health Organization. It
was published in an edition of The Lancet medical journal devoted to
maternal health.
"The legal status of abortion has never dissuaded women and couples,
who, for whatever reason, seek to end pregnancy," Beth Fredrick of the
International Women's Health Coalition in the U.S. said in an
accompanying commentary.
Abortion accounts for 13 percent of maternal mortality worldwide.
About 70,000 women die every year from unsafe abortions. An additional
5 million women suffer permanent or temporary injury.
"The continuing high incidence of unsafe abortion in developing
countries represents a public health crisis and a human rights
atrocity," Fredrick wrote.
The number of worldwide abortions has dipped from about 46 million in
1995 to just under 42 million in 2003. But there was no change in the
rate of unsafe abortions; nearly half the procedures are still
performed illegally in potentially dangerous conditions.
"The only way to decrease unsafe abortion is to increase contraception,"
said Sharon Camp, president and chief executive officer of the Guttmacher
Institute.
--
Ray Fischer
rfischer@sonic.net
.
|
