Facts and Consequences: Legality, Incidence and Safety of Abortion Worldwide

[niyad]

(Please note the starred section in the fourth paragraph)

Facts and Consequences: Legality, Incidence and Safety of Abortion Worldwide
By Susan A. Cohen

Around the world, according to a new Guttmacher Institute report, Abortion Worldwide: A Decade of Uneven Progress, as contraceptive use continues to increase, levels of unintended pregnancy and abortion are declining. Of the approximately 42 million abortions that do occur worldwide, almost half are performed by unskilled individuals, in environments that do not meet minimum medical standards or both. Virtually all of these unsafe abortions take place in the developing world, where the unmet need for contraception remains high and very restrictive abortion laws often are the norm.

In the developed and developing world alike, antiabortion advocates and policymakers refuse to acknowledge the facts that abortion's legal status has much less to do with how often it occurs than with whether or not it is safe, and that the surest way to actually reduce the incidence of abortion is to reduce the incidence of unintended pregnancy. While they debate, obfuscate and insist on legal prohibitions, the consequences for women, their families and society as a whole continue to be severe and undeniable.

The lack of qualified medical providers, the stigma associated with illegal abortion, poor health systems and grinding poverty all contribute to the high health risks and to the social and financial costs of unsafe abortion. The public health tragedy caused by unsafe abortion is all the more so because it is largely preventable, by improving the quality and availability of postabortion care, by making abortion legal and increasing access to safe services, and—because almost every abortion is preceded by an unintended pregnancy—by expanding access to contraceptive information and services.
Illegal Abortion Is Usually Unsafe Abortion

Throughout Europe, except for Ireland and Poland, abortion is broadly legal, widely available and safe. The United States legalized abortion nationwide in 1973, in part because of the clear evidence that restrictive laws were not ending abortion but were exacting a significant public health toll, notably on lower-income women who could not travel or pay for safe services. *******Almost immediately afterward, pregnancy-related deaths and hospitalizations due to complications of unsafe abortion effectively ended. ****** The United States was not the first country and has been far from the last to recognize this relationship and move to liberalize its law.

. . .

http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/gpr/12/4/gpr120402.html

[JDPriestly]

1. I recommend that everyone watch the movie, The Magdalena Sisters.

We borrowed a copy from Netflix. It is probably also available elsewhere.

The Magdalene Sisters is a 2002 film written and directed by Peter Mullan, about 4 teenage girls who were sent to Magdalene Asylums, (also known as 'Magdalene Laundries'), homes for women who were labelled as "fallen" by their families or society. The homes were maintained by individual religious orders in the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.

Peter Mullan has remarked that the film was initially made because victims of Magdalene Asylums had received no closure in the form of recognition, compensation, or apology, and many remained lifelong devout Catholics.[2] Former Magdalene inmate Mary-Jo McDonagh told Mullan that the reality of the Magdalene Asylums was much worse than depicted in the film.[3]

Though set in Ireland, it was shot entirely on location in the Dumfries and Galloway area, South-West Scotland.

. . . .

The film received very positive reviews from critics. As of 25 October 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 90% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 144 reviews.[4] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 83 out of 100, based on 38 reviews — indicating "universal acclaim".[5] This made it the twentieth best reviewed film of the year.[6] The film appeared on several US critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2003.[7]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Magdalene_Sisters

If you make something illegal, if you pass criminal legislation prohibiting it, you have to figure out a way to enforce the ban. Most people do not want to place women in jail for having an abortion and rightfully so. Men never face the dilemma of an unwanted or dangerous pregnancy. The Magdalene Sisters illustrates the absurdity of the Catholic approach to the problem.

Choice and good, universally available prenatal care including birth control counseling are, in my opinion, the best solutions to the problem of unwanted pregnancies.

The anti-abortion advocates seem to be oblivious to the risks that many women face in childbirth. They never cease to amaze me.

[niyad]

2. thank you for reminding me about that incredible film.

would you be willing to post this as a separate thread so that it can be rec'd?