Induced abortion is one of the most performed medical interventions on the world even more then for example a secarian section (less than 20.000 in Netherlands, while there are 27.000 abortions, which is one of the lowest abortion rates in the world.
Abortions will always be necessary as a backup even though women will use several forms of contraception. Even when using the best methods such as the contraceptive pill, the chance of failure is 2% each year pill.
Facts about abortion:
- Worldwide more than 1/3 of all pregnancies are unplanned.
- Every year nearly 1/4 of all pregnant women worldwide choose to have an abortion (circa 42 million annually).
- Approximately 25% of the world population lives in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws, mostly in Latin America, Africa and Asia.
- The legal status of abortion makes little difference to overall levels of the estimated abortion incidence (making it illegal does not reduce the number of abortions).
- Where illegal, it is primarily women without financial means who take recourse to unsafe abortion methods, resulting in the death of a woman every 7 minutes.
- 20 million of the 42 million abortions performed annually are unsafe.
According to the conditions in which the medically unsafe abortions are performed and the methods used, a variety of severe complications may occur. Complications such as sepsis, haemorrhage, genital and abdominal trauma, perforated uterus or poisoning may be fatal if left untreated. Death may also result from secondary complications such as gas gangrene and acute renal failure. Permanent disability can result from unsafe abortion. Long-term consequences of abortion may include chronic pelvic pain, pelvic inflammatory disease (PID), tubal occlusion and secondary infertility. A high incidence of ectopic pregnancy and premature delivery, and increased risks of spontaneous abortion in subsequent pregnancies are other possible consequences of poorly performed abortions.
Between 10% and 50% of unsafe abortion cases need medical attention. However, not all women seek health care when complications arise. Their decision to seek help depends on the legal status and fear of sanctions, accessibility (geographic and financial) of health services, social attitudes, and also the attitudes of health facility staff. Worldwide 70 000 women die each year from complications following unsafe abortions. Unsafe abortion is, therefore, a leading cause of the almost 600 000 maternal deaths estimated to occur each year. Globally one in eight pregnancy-related deaths, an estimated 13%, are due to an unsafe abortion.
Rumania provides a unique case study of the factors that influence the use of unsafe abortion: in 1966 legal abortion was restricted and the abortion-related maternal mortality rate increased sharply, ten times higher than the average for the rest of Europe; in 1989 abortion was again made available on request and the number of maternal deaths fell sharply. By contrast the Netherlands has the lowest reported abortion rate Of the 29,266 abortions performed there in 1997, the complication rate for first trimester treatments was 0,3% with no resulting deaths whatsoever.
When, however, qualified persons with correct techniques perform abortions under sanitary circumstances, abortion is a relatively safe surgical procedure. In the United States, for example, the death rate for abortion is currently 0.6 per 100 000 procedures, making it as safe as an injection of penicillin.
