The US Supreme Court is preparing to overturn the historic 1973 ruling in the Rowe-Wade case that recognized the right to abortion nationwide.as revealed yesterday Monday by the news website Politico, citing the leaked draft opinion.
As new restrictions on the right to abortion are imposed in the US and other countrieshere are some statistics on abortion internationally as well as the strictest laws in force around the world.
This information is based on data from the United Nations World Health Organization as well as the Guttmacher Institute and the Center for Reproductive Rights, both of which support the right to abortion.
- About 73 million abortions are performed worldwide each year, with 61% of unwanted pregnancies and 29% of all pregnancies resulting in abortionsaccording to World Health Organization.
According to the same source, about 45% of all abortions are unsafe, of which 97% take place in developing countries. According to WHO data, “unsafe abortion is the leading – but preventable – cause of maternal death and morbidity.”
- There are 16 countries where abortion is completely banned. The list includes Egypt, Iraq, the Philippines, Laos, Senegal, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, Haiti and the Dominican Republic, according to the Center for Reproductive Rights. About 30 other countries allow it only when the mother’s life is in danger, with the list including Nigeria, Brazil, Mexico, Venezuela, Iran, Afghanistan and Myanmar. About 40% of women of childbearing age live in areas where access to abortion is illegal or restricted.
- In the United States, a number of restrictive, Republican-backed laws have been passed at the state level, with the Conservative Supreme Court overwhelmingly preparing to overturn the 1973 law that legitimized the process across the country.
- In January 2021, Poland enacted a constitutional court ruling banning abortions due to problems with the fetus itself, banning the most common of the few legal reasons for terminating a pregnancy in a predominantly Catholic country.
- El Salvador has one of the strictest abortion laws in the world, with the process being banned without exception since 1998. More than 180 women who have had emergency gynecological problems have been prosecuted for abortion or homicide in the last 20 years.
- Women in Malta are denied access to abortion, even if their lives are in danger. It is the only EU member state that completely bans the process. Women face up to three years in prison.
- Senegal bans abortion but medical ethics in the country allow it if three doctors agree on what is needed to save a woman’s life. A 2014 study showed that these rules force women to secretly have abortions and, as a last resort, to kill their own babies.
- In the United Arab Emirates, abortion is illegal unless the pregnancy endangers the woman’s life or there are indications that the fetus will not survive. Women face up to one year in prison and a heavy fine. Women who seek medical help in a hospital for miscarriage may be charged with attempted abortion.
- Anti-abortion legislation in the Philippines dates back to its time as a Spanish colony. Abortion has been banned for over a century. About 1,000 women in the Philippines die each year from complications. Spain is among the more than 50 countries that have released abortion laws in the last 25 years.
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