Abolition of anti- abortion laws can save near 50,000 women a year, states expert

28^th September 2016

Description – Even in 21^st Century, access to abortions are restricted in many places in the world. Several experts therefore have called several government bodies to repeal anti-abortion laws.

Human rights experts state that risky pregnancy terminations kill nearly 50,000 women each year. Therefore they have called on regions across the world to repeal their anti-abortion laws and policies. They have also called to abolish all disciplinary actions and discriminatory barriers to access safe women’s reproductive health services.

One of the experts stated that criminalization of abortion and failure to provide quality services for pregnancy termination are forms of discrimination based on sex. Restrictive laws that deny access to safe abortive service are one of the most damaging methods of instrumentalizing woman’s body and are serious violation of her human rights. The consequence of such rules generally results in women trusting unsafe procedure and putting themselves at a serious risk.

Others have pointed out that an unsafe procedure is one of the major causes of maternal mortality. According to a reputed research, approximately 22 million unsafe pregnancy terminations take place around the globe and some 47,000 women die from complications arising from those unsafe procedures.  

Laws restricting pregnancy termination

Restrictive laws on abortive services are applied in 40% of the world’s population. In countries where such laws take practice, women that seek out pregnancy termination or medical care after miscarriage are charged with imprisonment and prosecution.

Study states that prohibition or restricting the access to abortive procedures does not reduce the number of terminations. It only results in increasing the number of pregnant women who seek illegal and unsafe services. Experts state that lack of essential sex education and availability of contraceptives result in more unwanted pregnancies and thus abortions. So, in countries where pregnancy termination is legal; access to important information and modern contraception are readily available, also show lower rates of abortion.

Even if the possibility of acquiring contraceptives is more, access to safe abortion remains essential, as even such methods are not 100% effective. Plus there is a chance of women being exposed sexual violence which may result into un-intended pregnancy.

Abortion in first trimester is the safest

As is common knowledge, early abortive procedures are the safest, since it becomes more complicated to abort if the pregnancy proceeds further.

As early terminations are safe, medical abortions that take place within 10 weeks of pregnancy are generally recommended to women in their first trimester. International legal requirements should at least make access to early terminations easy says an expert.

Early pregnancy termination methods include abortion pills or suction method. Amongst the two, many women prefer to keep the abortion private and therefore with a doctor’s prescription, buy abortion pills from authorized online pharmacies or clinics.

Some backward laws even hinder women’s chances in acquiring the necessary medication which lead them to buy it at unreliable sources; therefore increasing the chances of maternal deaths that could have been avoided. Surgical abortive services also face the same opposition, even though there is less than a percent’s chance of complication in the procedures if done rightfully.