Abstract : With the exception of women in Cuba, women in the countries of Latin America do not have broad, legal access to induced abortion services. Nonetheless, women engage in sexual intercourse without using contraception, become pregnant, and subsequently abort unwanted and unplanned pregnancies. An estimated four million abortions are conducted annually in Latin America. There is therefore an enormous practice of clandestine abortion in the region. Clandestine abortions are not necessarily unsafe, but the high levels of abortion-related morbidity and mortality in the region stem from the dangerous conditions which surround a high proportion of such procedures. Given the large number of illegal abortions and the substantial volume of research already conducted by individuals, universities, and organizations on the issue, a meeting was organized and convened to exchange knowledge on the incidence, determinants, consequences, and social and economic costs of clandestine abortion in the region. The November 15-18, 1994, Research Conference on Induced Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean in Bogota, Colombia, was organized by the Universidad Externado de Colombia with the collaboration of the Special Program of Research, Development, and Research Training in Human Reproduction of the World Health Organization, the Alan Guttmacher Institute, and the Ford Foundation. The first of its kind in Latin America, the conference was attended by 130 researchers, health professionals, policy makers, and legislators from twenty countries. That the conference took place marks a turning point in the way the region's reproductive health and population field address abortion. During the final day of the conference, working groups developed recommendations relating to induced abortion in terms of incidence, legislation, adolescents, hospitalization, and costs for treatment of complications, contraception, and maternal mortality.
Web site : http://www.guttmacher.org/