Coinciding with International Safe Abortion Day, which takes place every September 28, the World Health Organization (WHO) has released the most up-to-date figures on the number of induced abortions performed in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. 19 and has alerted about the number of maternal deaths due to unsafe abortions, which are the order of the day in countries where there is no regulation or the voluntary interruption of pregnancy is prohibited. Specifically, this type of abortion kills 39,000 women each year, deaths that could be avoided.
According to WHO data, half of the world’s pregnancies are unplanned, and although abortion is a common procedure worldwide, 3 out of 10 pregnancies end in an induced abortion. Complications are rare when abortions are safe, that is, when they are carried out with one of the methods recommended by the WHO, taking into account the duration of the pregnancy and carried out by qualified health personnel.
But when women encounter barriers to timely, affordable and safe abortion, that’s when they turn to unsafe abortion. According to the WHO almost half of all abortions are unsafe in the world, 97% of all of them occur in developing countries.
Almost half of all abortions are unsafe in the world, 97% of all of them occur in developing countries
This is a problem that has increased during these last months of health crisis, since the COVID-19 pandemic has had devastating impacts on the ability of women to access safe abortions. Suspension of family planning outreach programs, movement restrictions, supply chain disruptions, and fear of contracting COVID-19 have prevented women from making informed and safe reproductive health decisions.
Specifically, the WHO states that between 4.7% and 13.2% of pregnant deaths can be associated with the practice of an unsafe abortion, being more common in developing countries, more than half of them in Asia . No more and no less than 7 million women require hospital admission as a result of unsafe abortion techniques in developing countries and.
Some of these unsafe techniques to terminate pregnancy are sharp curettage, ingestion of caustic substances, traditional concoctions or even the insertion of foreign bodies into the vagina. There are many reasons why women, many of them adolescents, resort to this type of dangerous abortion, including restrictive laws, the high cost of the procedure in specialized centers, the limited availability of services, stigma or delay. in necessary medical care.
Voluntary abortions have decreased in Spain due to COVID-19
The Spanish Ministry of Health has also taken advantage of this important date to publicize the State Register of Voluntary Interruptions of Pregnancy. The document indicates that the rate of voluntary abortions in the country during 2020 was 10.30 per 1,000 women between 15 and 44 years old, while in 2019 this figure was 11.53. This, they explain, could be due to the extraordinary situation caused by home confinement due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Of all these abortions, 71.85% were performed before the eighth week of gestation and only 0.18% were performed after the 23rd week of pregnancy. According to the data, in 41.31% of the cases no contraceptive method was used to avoid pregnancy.
In Spain, voluntary abortion is allowed before the 14th week of gestation, except in the case of fetal pathology or physical or mental health of the mother, which is extended until week 22.
In Spain, voluntary abortion is contemplated in the legislation before the 14th week of gestation, except in the case of fetal pathology or due to physical or mental health of the mother, which is extended until week 22. For this reason, it is difficult to find cases of unsafe abortions in the country.
Even so, “the Department headed by Minister Carolina Darias has the firm intention of continuing to guarantee the right of women to voluntary interruption of pregnancy in public health, improving access to this benefit in the National Health System, while that values the work carried out by all health professionals inside and outside the System in favor of the health and safety of women”, they explain in the document released.
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