Unsafe abortion endangers life

• April 27, 2024

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), abortions are classified as safe and unsafe. For WHO the unsafe abortion it is a procedure that aims to interrupt the unplanned pregnancy, and that is performed by people without the necessary training, in an environment that does not meet the minimum medical standards, or both circumstances when they coincide.

It is estimated that, in 2000, 27 million legal abortions and 19 million illegal abortions were practiced worldwide.

95% of illegal abortions (unsafe abortions) were practiced in developing countries, and 99% of deaths due to these abortions also took place in those countries.

The access to safe abortion is limited In many developing countries, due to legal restrictions, administrative barriers that impede access to legal services for the performance of an abortion, financial barriers and the lack of professionals with adequate training.

In Latin America (LA), the rate of complications derived from the practice of illegal abortion is disproportionately higher among women from rural areas with limited economic resources.

Complications in AL due to unsafe abortions

• The World Health Organization estimates that in Latin America and the Caribbean, one in every eight maternal deaths is due to an unsafe abortion.
• Nearly one million women in these same regions are hospitalized annually to be treated for complications resulting from unsafe abortions.
• The complications of unsafe abortion are incomplete abortion, excessive blood loss and infection. Other less common but very serious complications are septic shock, perforation of the intestines and inflammation of the peritoneum.
• Poor women living in rural areas tend to rely on less secure methods and untrained service providers. These are therefore the ones that are most likely to suffer serious side effects from unsafe abortion.
• In Guatemala and Mexico, experts in the field estimate that between 42 and 57% of poor women who have abortions experience serious complications for their health, compared with 28 to 38% of women in better economic conditions.

Sources: World Health Organization and the document "Data on abortion and unplanned pregnancy in Latin America and the Caribbean" of the Guttmacher Institute.

Video Medicine: Complications from Unsafe Abortions Are A Daily Emergency (April 2024).