Unintended Pregnancies Fall Worldwide But Half End In Abortion; No Evidence Legal Restrictions Prevent Abortion, Study Shows

The Guardian: Covid-19 threatens access to abortions and contraceptives, experts warn
“Rates of unplanned pregnancies have fallen around the world, according to new data published by health research organization the Guttmacher Institute and the U.N. Human Reproduction Programme (HRP) on Wednesday. Global rates of unintended pregnancies have fallen from 79 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 49 in 1990 to 64 in 2019, thanks in part to a concerted effort to increase access to contraceptives, but there are concerns that decades of progress in reducing the numbers risk being undone by Covid-19, as lockdown restrictions hamper health services…” (Ford, 7/23).

SciDev.Net: Abortion rates highest where legally restricted: study
“Abortion rates are highest in countries that legally restrict access to terminations, but lowest in high-income countries where abortion and contraception are accessible, a new study has found. Women in the world’s poorest regions are three times more likely to experience an unplanned pregnancy than women in the global North. Abortion rates are also highest in middle- and low-income countries, the research found. The number of unintended pregnancies has dropped globally over the past 30 years, but the proportion of abortions has increased — though there has been a slight decline in countries where abortion is broadly legal…” (Broom, 7/23).

The Telegraph: ‘No evidence’ that legal restrictions prevent women seeking abortions, major study finds
“…According to research published on Wednesday in the Lancet Global Health journal, the abortion rate increased by an average of 12 percent between 1990 and 2019 in 107 nations with restrictive laws. But in countries where the procedure is broadly legal, the abortion rate dropped by eight percent. If China and India are excluded from this average — they are home to 62 percent of women who are aged between 15 and 49 and so skew the figure — abortion rates in countries without restrictive laws dropped by 43 percent between 1990 and 2019…” (Newey, 7/22).

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