The Costs of Unsafe Abortion in Our World

Women, naturally and quite rightly, want to have control over their bodies and dictate the terms on which they live their lives. Motherhood is a wonderful thing, but only if the the woman is a willing participant in the act of creation. Women understand, perhaps more than others, the implications of having more children than theycan afford because they see, directly, the effects a malnutrtion, sickness, and all the ailments that can effect a child.

A new study from Guttmacher Institute shows that unsafe abortions cost Latin America and Africa between $227-$280 million per year in related medical expenses. That number increases to at least $341 million when Asian and Pacific regions are taken into account.

The study, in my opinion, rightly concludes that nearly all of these costs could be negated if only men and women, the world over, had access to reproductive health. Women correctly estimate the impact to themselves and/or their family of an additional child and unsafe abortions indicate the length to which women will go to prevent an unwanted pregnancy.

The study also notes that the cost is, in fact, considerably higher than the one they can actually figure because they estimate that 15-25% of women receive no form of medical treatment for any complications that they may experience after undergoing an unsafe abortion because they lack access tyo medical services of any kind.

All of this goes far to indicate that we must protect and expand our domestic access to reproductive health, but in the same breath, we must also fight for our fellow humans in the world who suffer far more than most of us. For more information about how to do that, I invite you to visit the International Planned Parenthood Federation website.