Abortion Around the World
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More countries around the world are making it easier for women to access safe, legal abortion services. But a small number of nations, including the United States, are going in the wrong direction, passing laws that restrict a woman's right to make her own reproductive decisions and protect her health and her future.
To protect women’s health around the world, governments must make abortion services legal, safe, and accessible.
Seventy countries, with some 60 percent of the world's population, allow women to access abortion services with few or no restrictions. These governments understand that legal restrictions do not prevent abortions; they only force them to go underground and become more dangerous.
The Netherlands, which has a non-restrictive abortion law, offers free abortion services and has one of the lowest abortion rates in the world, as well as widely accessible contraceptives. In contrast, in Latin America, despite restrictive abortion laws, an estimated 95 percent of abortions are illegal. Latin America countries have some of the highest abortion rates in the world and some of the highest death rates from unsafe, illegal abortion. For example, 48 percent of maternal deaths in Uruguay are attributable to unsafe abortion.
Prevention is key! Congress must provide funding for preventive international family planning services. The U.S. government must abandon the “global gag rule,” which denies vital funds to international family planning organizations if they offer abortion services, counseling, or referrals — even if they use their own non-U.S. funding.
Join the Planned Parenthood Action Network and learn how you can help end the global crisis of unsafe abortion!
Published: 05.05.08 | Updated: 05.05.08
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