Right to protection from unsafe abortion and postabortion care

Abstract

The International Congress on Population and Development (ICPD) Programme of Action urged governments and intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations to reduce women's recourse to abortion through improved family planning services; reliable information and counseling should be readily accessible to women who have unwanted pregnancies; where abortion is legal, it should be safe; and in all cases, quality services for management of abortion complications should be accessible. Review of the extent to which these recommendations have been implemented over the last 15 years shows that, with few exceptions, little attention has been given to this serious problem. Because of its political and religious implications, abortion is mostly ignored. Those with the power to promote change have an obligation to raise the issue of abortion from the darkness in which it is currently hidden, and bring it into the public light as a human drama and a health problem that is not difficult to solve if the ICPD recommendations are taken seriously.

Improving care of women at risk of unsafe abortion: Implementing a risk‐reduction model at the Uruguayan‐Brazilian border

“…Such a service is inexpensive and may be implemented in any country irrespective of its legislation regarding abortion. It is a question of political will on the part of those responsible for public policies [17].…”

Legal termination of pregnancy as an opportunity for expanding postabortion contraception: Experience at the Pereira Rossell Hospital, Montevideo, Uruguay

“…This argument assumes that women take abortion lightly and abort without hesitation, while what has been observed in practice is actually very different [3]. Accordingly, it is very important to disseminate the current evidence, which shows that abortion rates are lower in countries with liberal laws than in countries with restrictive laws.…”

Stories behind the statistics: A review of abortion‐related deaths from 2005 to 2007 in Mexico City

“…Of the 21.6 million women who resort to unsafe abortions worldwide, approximately 47 000 lose their lives because of complications [1]. Almost all unsafe procedures take place in developing countries, and generally women in the poorest countries are most at risk of having serious consequences of unsafe abortion [2,3]. Unsafe abortion, as defined by the World Health Organization, is a procedure to terminate an unintended pregnancy performed by an individual lacking adequate skills or occurring in conditions that do not meet basic medical standards, or both [4].…”