Unsafe Abortion and Women’s Health: Change and Liberalization PDF
Preview Unsafe Abortion and Women’s Health: Change and Liberalization
Unsafe abortion and Women’s HealtH This page has been left blank intentionally Unsafe abortion and Women’s Health Change and liberalization Colin franCome Middlesex University, UK © Colin francome 2015 all rights reserved. no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher. Colin francome has asserted his right under the Copyright, designs and Patents act, 1988, to be identified as the author of this work. Published by ashgate Publishing limited ashgate Publishing Company Wey Court east 110 Cherry street Union road suite 3-1 farnham burlington, Vt 05401-3818 surrey, GU9 7Pt Usa england www.ashgate.com British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library The Library of Congress has cataloged the printed edition as follows: francome, Colin. Unsafe abortion and women’s health : change and liberalization / by Colin francome. pages cm includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-4724-2761-8 (hardback) – ISBN 978-1-4724-2762-5 (ebook) – ISBN 978-1-4724-2763-2 (epub) 1. Abortion. 2. Abortion – Law and legislation. 3. birth control. i. title. HQ767.f7198 2014 362.1988'8–dc23 2013049432 ISBN 9781472427618 (hbk) ISBN 9781472427625 (ebk – PDF) ISBN 9781472427632 (ebk – ePUb) Printed in the United Kingdom by Henry ling limited, at the dorset Press, dorchester, dt1 1Hd Contents List of Tables vii Preface ix Acknowledgements xi List of Abbreviations xiii 1 Introduction 1 2 Europe 19 3 Asia 53 4 Africa 93 5 Latin America and the Caribbean 133 6 Oceania 169 7 North America 177 8 Conclusions and Recommendations 191 Bibliography 203 Index 221 This page has been left blank intentionally List of Tables 1.1 Unmet need, met need and total demand for family planning (FP) 2 1.2 The number of abortions by region 3 2.1 Average number of births in 2013 19 2.2 Maternal and infant mortality rates 20 2.3 Maternal and infant mortality rates Southern and Western Europe 21 2.4 Romania: percentage of pregnancies ending in abortion (excluding foetal deaths and miscarriage 41 2.5 Abortions and births in Russia 43 2.6 Abortions and births in Sweden 47 2.7 Abortions and births in Ukraine 48 3.1 Eastern and Southern Asia 54 3.2 South Central and Western Asia 55 4.1 Eastern and Middle African Countries 95 4.2 Northern, Southern and Western Africa 96 5.1 The 29 countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (2011) 135 6.1 Oceania: maternal and infant mortality 169 This page has been left blank intentionally Preface In 2008 it was estimated that 47,000 women died of unsafe abortions which is one death in every eleven minutes. Unsafe abortion is largely a problem of poverty. Most women in rich countries can obtain safe abortions locally and others can travel to countries where abortion is safe. In contrast, poor people have to face the vagaries of abortions occurring outside safe, legal health services. This leads to 99 per cent of abortion deaths occurring in poor countries. Apart from the women who die there are numerous others who suffer illness. There are those following religious doctrine who believe abstinence is the answer to unwanted pregnancies. However, country by country evidence provided in this book has yet to find a country where such a policy has proved effective. Official figures suggest over four times as many women died from unsafe abortion as were killed in all the terrorist attacks around the world. Yet, while terrorism dominates the media and billions are spent hoping to prevent it, unsafe abortion remains the silent killer. The evidence shows that the countries with the lowest rates of abortion are the Western European ones with legal operations backed up by good quality sex education and contraception. The Guttmacher Institute reported that over 200 million women were sexually active, not wanting a pregnancy, yet not using contraception. It is time to put women’s health before religious dogma and to provide safe legal abortions worldwide.
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