The
U.S.-based Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organisation (WHO) on
Thursday said abortion rates declined significantly across most developed
regions between 1990 and 2014, while they remained largely unchanged in
developing regions.
The lead
author of the study and a principal research scientist at the Institute, Dr
Gilda Sedgh, made the remark in Dar es Salaam, where group of researchers met.
Sedgh
noted that the study found that between said times the overall number of
abortions per 1,000 women of childbearing age (15–44 years old) in developed
countries dropped from 46 to 27.
He said
while in developing countries, it changed little, from 39 to 37, though a
non-significant difference.
Although
the global abortion rate declined slightly during the 25-year period studied,
the researchers also found that the absolute number of abortions per year
increased as a result of population growth.
Globally,
the annual number of abortions grew by almost 6 million, from 50.4 million in
1990 to 1994 to 56.3 million in 2010 to 2014.
However,
the estimated abortion rate in 2010–2014 was 35 per 1,000 women.
Broken
down by marital status, it was 36 per 1,000 for married women and 25 per 1,000
for unmarried women, whereas some 73 per cent of all abortions, or 41 million,
were obtained by married women.
The
authors also estimated that in 2010 to 2014, a quarter of all pregnancies
worldwide ended in abortion.
They
said that the percentage dropped in developed regions, from 39 per cent in 1990
to 1994 to 28 per cent in 2010 to 2014.
``These
trends suggest that women and couples in the developed world have become more
successful at avoiding unintended pregnancies, the cause of most abortions over
the last two decades.
``High
abortion rates are directly correlated to high levels of unmet contraceptive
need.
``Our
findings indicate that in many developing regions, women lack the contraceptive
services they need and are unable to prevent pregnancies they do not want to
have,” they said.
As
countries were grouped according to their abortion laws, the researchers found
no significant difference in abortion rates for 2010 to 2014 between countries
where abortion is legal and where it is restricted.
In
countries where the procedure was prohibited altogether or permitted only to
save a woman’s life, the abortion rate was 37 per 1,000, and in countries where
it was available on request, the abortion rate was 34 per 1,000.
It has
been estimated that in developing regions, where abortion laws tend to be
highly restrictive, some 6.9 million women were treated for complications from
unsafe abortions in 2012.
The
researchers also noted that their findings provide further evidence that even
if all women and couples who wish to avoid pregnancy had universal access to
contraception, unintended pregnancies and abortions would still occur.
``Women
may become pregnant as a result of sexual violence, contraceptive methods may
fail, and women who initially wish to have a child may experience a change of
circumstances after they become pregnant.
``Therefore,
access to safe abortion is essential so that women who need abortion care do
not have to resort to unsafe procedures,’’ the study concluded.
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