Report Says that Unsafe Abortions Kill 70,000 Annually
The Guttmacher Institute issued a report of a global survey, which found that 70,000 women die annually from unsafe abortions. More than half the deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa, which is the region with the lowest rates of contraceptive use and the highest rates of pregnancies that are unintended.
Sharon Camp, who is president of the Institute said that in almost all of the developed world abortion is safe and legal, but that in much of the developing world it is highly restricted, and that unsafe abortion practices are common. The report calls for easing of abortion laws in developing countries. This stance has been criticized by Deirdre McQuade, a policy director with the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities.
The Guttmacher Institute has estimated that the number of abortions worldwide fell from 45.5 million in 1995 to 41.6 million in 2003.
The report says that the main reason for that decline is that the portion of married women using contraception increased from 54 percent in 1990 to 63 percent in 2003. This was due to the increase in availability of contraceptives and to the changing of social mores.
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