KUALA LUMPUR: Some 70,000 women worldwide die from unsafe abortions each year while many more suffer serious injuries, especially in poor countries, health experts said Monday.
Unsafe abortion is a serious public health problem for women, accounting for 13 percent of all maternal deaths globally each year, said Dorothy Shaw, president-elect of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO).
Maternal deaths are defined as mortalities during pregnancy or up to six weeks after delivery.
Shaw, who is also the editor of the World Report on Women s Health 2006, announced the figures on the sidelines of FIGO s five-day gathering in the Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur.
Shaw said unsafe abortion is rooted in poverty, social inequity and denial of women s basic rights.
Almost anywhere in the world, a woman with resources can obtain a safe termination of an unwanted pregnancy … a woman without resources often finds that a safe procedure is beyond her means, she said.
The World Report On Women s Health, published Monday, said that women who turn to unsafe abortion after considering the alternatives are desperate not to bring the pregnancy to term.
In a number of countries, women who undergo abortions are treated as criminals by health authorities and the justice system, the report added.
The report says that 85 percent of deaths due to unsafe abortion globally occur in Sub-Saharan African countries and South Central Asia.
In contrast, in Europe and North America, the number of deaths is negligible, it said. The writers highlighted the role of gynecologists and obstetricians as agents of change when they work with women s organizations, lawyers and local governments in providing access to safe abortions.
We are talking about treatment and surgery that is widely available. Unsafe abortion is entirely preventable, said Elizabeth Maguire, IPAS president, a US-based group committed to advancing women s reproductive rights.
Unfortunately, the majority of the women who are deprived of safe abortion care come from very poor parts of the world, she said. Women have to risk their lives because of this. The newly-formed Asia Pacific Council on Contraception (APCOC) said at the weekend it aimed to prevent high numbers of abortions and unwanted pregnancies in the region by promoting education on contraception.
Of the 46 million abortions carried out every year around the world, 20 million are clandestine and generally unsafe, according to the WHO.
“[This is the result of] a system that talks a lot about reform and doesn’t do anything about it in reality, said Seif Eldin Abdel Fattah, a professor at the faculty of political science and economics.
Abdel Fattah, who barely reached campus due to the tight security around Cairo University, explained that violence is the result of the absence of democracy. One of the functions of democracy, he continued, is envelop social practices in a peaceful way.
“When it is an issue of reform, the state . has to keep order and doesn’t intervene, Abdel Fattah said of elections.
“[Now] security disappears where it should be active and is active where it should disappear, said Abdel Fattah in reference to the rumored Downtown harassment of women that allegedly happened in absence of security forces.
