Abortion and the Law
Today, abortion is permitted on broad grounds or without restriction in 70 countries, where more than 60 percent of the world’s population lives.*
As evidence of the growing consensus on the need for safe abortion, between 1995 and 2007, 17 countries liberalised their abortion laws. A few countries, however, have regrettably moved to further restrict access to safe pregnancy termination. In 2006, for example, despite vigorous objections from health professionals and women’s groups, Nicaragua imposed a total ban on abortion, increasing women’s risks related to unsafe abortion.
Restrictive laws do not stop abortions from occurring. The abortion rate in Europe, where most abortion laws are liberal, is almost the same as in Africa, where most are restrictive. But restrictive laws are clearly associated with increased deaths and injuries of women from unsafe abortion, and more liberal laws unmistakably correlate with lower risks and better health outcomes, including fewer deaths. More than half of the estimated 67,000 deaths from unsafe abortion each year occur in Africa, where many countries retain obsolete abortion laws inherited from former colonial powers. In legally restricted environments, an important approach for improving women’s access to safe abortion is to encourage broad interpretation of existing legal frameworks. It is also essential to remove medically unnecessary legal requirements regarding provision of abortion imposed on women, providers and healthcare facilities.
Liberal laws alone, however, do not guarantee women’s access to safe abortion or lower mortality or morbidity rates. Concerted planning and investment in making safe services accessible — by training providers, making appropriate technologies such as manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and medical abortion available on a sustained basis, and issuing clear, evidence-based clinical and policy guidance — are also necessary, along with efforts to inform women of their legal rights and of service availability, and ongoing vigilance to protect legal gains.
* Marie Stopes International (MSI) and Ipas. 2009. For women’s lives and health: Report of the Global Safe Abortion Conference. Whose right? Whose choice? Who cares? 23-24 October, 2007. London and Chapel Hill, NC: MSI and Ipas.