Resumen : At present, there are 50 countries where abortion is either prohibited or permitted only to save the mother's life, 44 countries with strictly defined justifications over and above a threat to the mother's life (e.g. rape or incest), 13 countries that permit abortion for social or sociomedical as well as medical reasons, and other 22 whether abortion is available on request. In Africa and Latin America, strict abortion laws remain the norm; however, several countries in Asia and Eastern Europe have demonstrated a trend toward liberalization of abortion laws. The annual number of abortions worldwide is estimated at 36-53 million; about 25% of all pregnancies are terminated. The abortion rate is actually higher in countries where abortion is illegal (30-60/1000 women in Latin America) than areas where it is available (14/1000 in Western Europe). The rate of abortion is primarily a reflection of the availability and quality of family planning services and sex education in a country. In countries where abortion is legal, the mortality rate is under 1/100,000 procedures. About a quarter to a third of maternal deaths are attributable to complications of illegal abortions. If abortion were legal on a global level, the current 150,000 abortion-related maternal deaths/year would drop to 250/year. Other consequences of illegal abortion include permanent infertility, the need for 50% of maternity hospital budgets to be allotted to treatment of complications of abortion, and a diversion of a large share of scarce blood supplies.
Notes : Inglés/anglais/English, nbsp;Abstract : Popline (http://db.jhuccp.org/popinform/basic.html) - PIP 092571