Unsafe abortion
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According to the World Health Organization (WHO), an unsafe abortion is the termination of an unintended pregnancy either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking the minimal medical standards, or both.
Unsafe abortion is a significant cause of maternal mortality and morbidity in the world. Approximately 95% of unsafe abortions take place in developing countries.[1]
Overview
Every year, 100 million induced abortions occur globally (IPAS); and according to the 2000 estimates (WHO), 19 million unsafe abortions take place each year. According to WHO, approximately 68,000 women die annually as a result of complications of unsafe abortion; and between two million and seven million women each year survive unsafe abortion but sustain long-term damage or disease (incomplete abortion, infection (sepsis), haemorrhage, and injury to the internal organs, such as puncturing or tearing of the uterus).(IPAS) According to WHO statistics, the risk rate for unsafe abortion is 1/270; according to other sources, unsafe abortion is responsible for one in eight maternal deaths.[2]
In order to limit the number of deaths caused by unsafe abortion, WHO recommendations are priority for prevention of unplanned pregnancies, followed by improving the quality of abortion services and post-abortion care (when safe abortion services are not available, services to treat the complications of unsafe abortion can consume up to 50% of hospital resources).
A 2007 study published in the The Lancet found that, although the global rate of abortion declined from 45.6 million in 1995 to 41.6 million in 2003, unsafe procedures still accounted for 48% of all abortions performed in 2003. It also concluded that, while the overall incidence of abortion in both developed and developing countries is approximately equal, unsafe abortion occurs more often in less-developed nations.[3]
Pro-life critics contend that the results of The Lancet study are flawed, as there are no accurate statistics about abortion from countries without socialized medicine, particularly those in the developing world.[4][5] In a 2005 report, the WHO itself states, “More than a third of the 204 countries or areas examined did not report the number of deaths by sex even once for the period 1995 to 2003. About half did not report deaths by cause, sex and age at least once in the same period. Moreover, from 1975 to 2003 there has been limited progress in the reporting of deaths and their causes.” [6]
Unsafe abortion primarily occurs where abortion is illegal, or where abortion is legal, but there is insufficient provision of medical services.
Incidence by continent
| Region | Unsafe Abortion Risk of Dying | |
|---|---|---|
| Africa | 1 in 150 | 13% |
| Asia[7] | 1 in 250 | 12% |
| Latin America | 1 in 900 | 21% |
| Europe[8] | 1 in 1900 | 17% |
Source: Unsafe Abortion: Mortality and Risk Estimates of Death data from WHO press, Geneva, 1997
10,000 women a year die from unsafe abortions in Nigeria.[9]
Incidences in the U.S. after 1973
In 2005, the Detroit News reported that a 16-year-old boy beat his pregnant, under-age girlfriend with a bat at her request to abort a fetus. The young couple live in Michigan where parental consent is needed to receive an abortion.[10][11][12] In Indiana, where there are also parental consent laws, a young woman by the name of Becky Bell died from a back-alley abortion rather than discuss her pregnancy and wish for an abortion with her parents.[13][14]
Method
Methods of unsafe abortion include:
- Trying to break the amniotic sac inside the womb with a sharp stick or wire (for example a clothes hanger).[9] This method can result in infection, and injury to internal organs (for example pulling out the intestines), resulting in death.[9]
- Pumping toxic mixtures, such as chilli peppers and chemicals like alum, or plant poison into the body of the woman.[9] This method can cause the woman to go in to toxic shock and die.[9]
Back-alley abortion
A back-alley abortion (Back-Yard Abortion in Australia) is the common slang term for an illegal abortion in the English-speaking world.
The wire coat hanger method was a popularly known illegal abortion procedure, although they were not the norm. In fact, Mary Calderone, former medical director of Planned Parenthood, said, in a 1960 printing of the American Journal of Public Health:
"Abortion is no longer a dangerous procedure. This applies not just to therapeutic abortions as performed in hospitals but also to so-called illegal abortions as done by physician. In 1957 there were only 260 deaths in the whole country attributed to abortions of any kind, second, and even more important, the conference [on abortion sponsored by Planned Parenthood] estimated that 90 percent of all illegal abortions are presently being done by physicians. Whatever trouble arises usually arises from self-induced abortions, which comprise approximately 8 percent, or with the very small percentage that go to some kind of non-medical abortionist. Abortion, whether therapeutic or illegal, is in the main no longer dangerous, because it is being done well by physicians."
Herbal abortions (when done illegally) can also be described as back-alley abortions because they are not induced in a medical facility.
Controversy
The matter of back-alley abortion in America received public attention leading up to the legal proceedings of Roe v. Wade, the 1973 United States Supreme Court decision which legalized abortion in America. Since then, it has become a central argument on the part of some prominent legal abortion advocates. The publication in Ms. magazine of a photo of Gerri Santoro, who died of blood loss following a back-alley abortion, was used extensively to illustrate the dangers of illegal abortions.
Bernard Nathanson, a pro-life doctor who, by his account, formerly performed thousands of abortions, has denounced statistics of women who allegedly died from back-alley abortions in the United States. He has asserted on numerous occasions that he and several other colleagues, who later became instrumental in abortion's legalization, had fabricated and disseminated many statistics about back-alley abortions for the purpose of leading the public to adhere to their justification for abortion.[15]
See also
References
- ^ Stanley K. Henshaw, Susheela Singh and Taylor Haas, The Incidence of Abortion Worldwide, Family Planning Perspectives 1999 http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/25s3099.html#fn3a Retrieved 25 September 2008
- ^ Nour NM. "An Introduction to Maternal Mortality". Reviews in Ob Gyn (2008) 1:77-81.
- ^ Sedgh, G., Henshaw, S., Singh, S., Åhman, E., & Shah, I.H. (2007). Induced abortion: estimated rates and trends worldwide. The Lancet, 370 (9595), 1338-1345. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
- ^ Mosher, Steven. (October 12, 2007). "Worldwide Illegal Abortion Study Relies on Bogus and Biased Statistics." LifeNews.com. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
- ^ Lyons, Stephanie. (October 19, 2007). "Study shows abortions just as likely to happen in countries where it is illegal." The Daily Vidette Online. Retrieved October 31, 2007.
- ^ The World’s Women 2005: Progress in Statistics
- ^ Excludes Japan, Australia and New Zealand
- ^ Primarily Eastern Europe
- ^ a b c d e Andrew Walker (2008-04-07). "Saving Nigerians from risky abortions". BBC News.
- ^ Detroit News: Boy faces felony in baseball bat abortion
- ^ Baseball Bat Abortion Boulder Weekly
- ^ NARAL - Michigan
- ^ Pacifica Radio
- ^ Planned Parenthood
- ^ Confession of an Ex-Abortionist by Dr. Bernard Nathanson