African women more likely to have abortions

IF YOU live in Africa and are pregnant, you are more likely to abort your baby compared to your counterparts in Europe and other First World countries, a new study has suggested.

According to a study undertaken by the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organisation, researchers discovered that of the 280million abortions worldwide between 2010 and 2014, most occurred in the developing world.

At least 41 million abortions during the research period or 8.3million each year occurred in Africa, which was a significant increase compared with the 4.6million a year that occurred in the continent between 1990 and 1994.

While abortions dropped from 46 per 1000 women to 27 in the First World nations, it changed a little in the developing nations from 39 per 1 000 women to 37.

Nearly 88percent of all abortions took place in developing regions.

Globally, the annual number of abortions grew by almost 6 million, from 50.4 million between 1990-1994 to 56.3 million in 20102014. Married women were more likely to abort, with 41million or 73percent of abortions during the same period attributed to married women.

The percentage of abortion declined by 41 percent since 1990 to only 27 abortions per 1 000. By contrast, it changed very little in developing countries—from 21percent to 24percent or 37 abortions per 1000 women over the same period.

The proportion of pregnancies ending in abortion increased in Latin America and the Caribbean from 23 percent to 32 percent, South and Central Asia it changed from 17 percent to 25 percent and southern Africa from 17 percent to 24 percent.

Researchers found no significant difference in abortion rates between countries that legalised abortion where it was illegal.

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 women, and in countries where it was legalised the abortion rate was 34 per 1 000.

Lead researcher Dr Gilda Sedgh said the latest trends suggested that women had become more successful at avoiding unintended pregnancies – the main cause of most abortions.

“High abortion rates are directly correlated to high levels of unmet contraceptive needs. 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,” she said.

Sedgh said the continuing rates of abortions clearly underscored the need to improve and expand access to effective contraceptive services.

“Ensuring that women and couples have access to a wide range of effective contraceptive methods to choose from and that they receive comprehensive information about how to use their chosen method consistently and correctly is sound public health policy. Investing in modern contraceptive methods would be far less costly to women and society than the costs of managing the outcomes of unintended pregnancies,” she wrote.