22% of pregnancies end in abortion
JAKARTA (JP): Each year about 35 out of every 1,000 women of childbearing age in the world have an induced abortion. Despite variations in the legal status of abortion, the overall abortion rate for women living in developed and developing countries is strikingly similar: 39 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age in developed countries and 34 abortions per 1,000 women of reproductive age in developing countries.
Of the estimated 210 million pregnancies which occur throughout the world each year, about 38 percent are unplanned, and 22 percent end in abortion, according to a new report by The Alan Guttmacher Institute, an organization focusing on reproductive health research, policy analyses and public education.
In developed countries (where the average desired family size is small), of the 28 million pregnancies which occur each year an estimated 49 percent are unplanned, and 36 percent end in abortion.
In developing countries (where the average desired family size is still relatively large), of the 182 million pregnancies which occur each year an estimated 36 percent are unplanned, and 20 percent end in abortion.
"We must do our best to ensure that abortions take place only under safe conditions and ensure that women have the means to prevent pregnancy in the first place," said Jeannie I. Rosoff, the institute's president.
The report, Sharing Responsibility: Women, Society and Abortion Worldwide, states that about 26 million women have legal abortions each year, and an estimated 20 million women have illegal abortions. Twenty-five percent of the women having abortions live in parts of the world where abortion is permitted only to save a woman's life or they are prohibited altogether. Ten percent of the women reside in countries where abortion is permitted to protect a woman's physical health or her life. Four percent live in places where abortion is permitted for these reasons or to protect a woman's mental health. The rest, or 61 percent of the women live under more liberal laws: 20 percent live in countries which permit abortion for socio-economic reasons, as well as for the reasons stated above, and 41 percent live in countries where women may obtain an abortion without being required to give a specific reason (at least in the early months of a pregnancy).
Millions of women who live in countries which place severe restrictions on abortion nevertheless attempt to end their pregnancies through unauthorized and often unsafe means. The World Health Organization defines an unsafe abortion as a "procedure for terminating an unwanted pregnancy (carried out) either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking the minimal medical standards, or both".
Abortions carried out under such conditions place women's health and lives at risk. For example, of the estimated 600,000 annual pregnancy-related deaths worldwide, about 13 percent (or 78,000) are related to complications from unsafe abortions. In developing regions (excluding China), where abortion is often illegal or highly restricted, the abortion mortality rate is hundreds of times higher than in developed countries (330 deaths per 100,000 abortions compared with 0.2 to 1.2 deaths per 100,000 abortions). The abortion mortality rate is highest in Africa where an estimated 680 deaths per 100,000 abortions occur.
Based on analyses of government data and other research, the information in the institute's new comprehensive study on abortion worldwide comes mainly from countries in which pregnancy termination is legal and the number of abortions is recorded by the government. However, some regional estimates and some estimates for countries in which abortions are illegal are also included.
Rosoff comments, "In the poorest countries, women are exposed to the highest risk of death and disability from unsafe, usually illegal abortions -- often leaving whole families bereft of mothers and wives. The majority of victims are women living on the edge of survival, with few prospects that their governments can or will do much to improve their lot."