Lest it bethought that these sweeping continental numbers hide as much as they reveal,the same point can be made by looking at those countries which have changedtheir laws. Between 1995 and 2005, 17 nations liberalised abortion legislation,while three tightened restrictions. The number of induced abortionsnevertheless declined from nearly 46m in 1995 to 42m in 2003, resulting in afall in the worldwide abortion rate from 35 to 29. The most dramatic drop-from90 to 44-was in former communist Eastern Europe, where abortion is generallylegal, safe and cheap. This coincided with a big increase in contraceptive usein the region which still has the worlds highest abortion rate, with moreterminations than live births.
The risk ofdying in a botched abortion is only part of a broader problem of maternalhealth in poor countries. Of all the inequalities of development, this isarguably the worst. According to a report published this week by PopulationAction International, a Washington-based lobby group, women in poor countriesare 250 times more likely to die in pregnancy or childbirth than women in richones. (2)Of the 535,000 women who died in childbirth or from pregnancy-relatedcomplications in 2005, 99% were in developing countries, according to anotherreport by a group of UN agencies, including WHO, also out this week. Africaaccounted for more than half such deaths.As the UN report noted, countries withthe highest levels of maternal mortality have made the least progress towardsreducing it. A woman in Africa has a one in 16 chance of dying in pregnancy orchildbirth, compared with one in 3,800 for a woman in the rich world.
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