Ninety-seven percent of unsafe abortions in 2003 occurred in developing countries, with unsafe abortion rates at 39 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age in East Africa and 33 per 1,000 in South America. The lowest abortion rate in the world that year was in Western Europe at 12 per 1,000 women of child-bearing age, compared to 17 for Northern Europe and 21 for North America. The largest decline (going from 48/1,000 to 28/1,000) occurred in Eastern Europe where there was a substantial increase in the use of contraceptives. For every 1,000 women of child-bearing age (15-44), 29 were estimated to have had an induced abortion in 2003, as contrasted with 35 in 1995. The annual number of induced abortions worldwide declined to 42 million by 2003, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) and AGI. Thirteen percent of all pregnancies in Africa, 40 percent in Latin America, and 29 percent in Asia end in abortion–a total of 36 million in those regions alone. The AGI researchers found that almost all of these deaths occur in developing countries where of 154 million pregnancies each year, 65 million are unplanned. Millions are injured or disabled because of medical complications. A 1999 study for the Alan Guttmacher Institute (AGI) estimated 46 million abortions worldwide each year, with 26 million taking place under unsafe conditions, resulting in the death of 78,000 women. A severe and continuing shortage of family planning services and contraceptive products leads to an estimated 76 million unplanned pregnancies worldwide, according to the U.N. Tragically, women’s lives are lost unnecessarily because of abortion restrictions and lack of access to medical services.Ībortion is restricted by laws, cultural and religious traditions and the scarcity of medical resources, especially in developing countries. Women’s health and their families’ well-being suffer as a consequence. Unfortunately, in many parts of the world, women face serious and sometimes insurmountable barriers in obtaining those services. Women’s reproductive health advocates believe that - as a fundamental human right - all women everywhere should have access to reproductive health and family planning services, including abortion. By Mehribon Abdullaeva, NOW Foundation Policy Intern
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