There, rates have been decline for 25 years and now are at historic low. Likewise, the total number of abortions fell from 12 million to 7 million.
Advertisement
The study used abortion data from nationally representative surveys, official statistics, and other published and unpublished studies, along with information on the level of unmet need for contraception and the prevalence of contraceptive use, by type of method.
The spokesperson said a woman dies from complications related to unsafe abortion every 11 minutes, which it said was “unacceptable and entirely preventable” in 2016. Eastern Europe witnessed the biggest drop in abortion rates, from 88 to 42 per 1,000 women.
While the percentage of abortions in the developing world increased slightly from 21% in 1990-1994 to 24% in 2010-2014, it dropped from 39% to 28% in developed regions.
The overall abortion rate in Africa, by comparison, remained virtually unchanged over the same period, moving from 33 to 34 per 1,000 women.
In the developed world, between 1990 and 2014, the average annual abortion rate per 1,000 women fell from 46 to 27, a drop made most drastic by Eastern Europe. The decline spans from the United States and Canada across the Atlantic Ocean to European nations.
Part of the reason why abortion rates in these anti-abortion countries are so high is the fact that contraception, sex education, and other family-planning services are usually similarly hard to obtain.
Many women said they chose not to use contraceptives because they were anxious about side effects, felt stigmatised or thought there was a low risk they would become pregnant.
“In countries across the developing world, the most common reasons for not using a method of contraception are perceived low risk of pregnancy, a personal opposition to using contraception, and concerns about the health effects or side-effects of contraceptive use”.
The journal Lancet published a new study where it is presented how abortion rates have diminished from 1990 to 2014, mainly in developed countries.
The findings from the US Guttmacher Institute and World Health Organisation (WHO) also show that making abortion illegal did not stop women ridding themselves of unwanted pregnancies.
“The obvious interpretation is that criminalizing abortion does not prevent it but, rather, drives women to seek illegal services or methods”.
‘Investing in modern contraceptive methods would be far less costly to women and society than having unwanted pregnancies and unsafe abortions’.
“In developed countries, the continued fall in abortion rates is largely due to increased use of modern contraception that has given women greater control over the timing and number of children they want”, author Gilda Sedgh said in a press statement.
“These trends suggest that women and couples in the developed world have become more successful at avoiding unintended pregnancies-the cause of most abortions-over the last two decades”, noted Dr. Sedgh, lead author of the study and a principal research scientist at the Guttmacher Institute.
The study, which found that between 2010-2014, a quarter of all pregnancies worldwide ended in abortion, said by marital status, the estimated abortion rate in 2010-2014 was 35 per 1,000 women – 36 per 1,000 for married women and 25 per 1,000 for unmarried women.
Advertisement
The study also found that termination rates were similar in countries where abortion is legal and where it is prohibited. The U.S. has among the lowest rates, about 17 per 1,000.
