Thursday, May 17, 2007

World's Abortion Facts


"Over 60% of the world's 6.5 billion people now live in countries where abortion is generally allowed, and a quarter where it is banned, according to the Centre for Reproductive Rights, a pressure group. Mexico has just decriminalised it, whereas in some countries, such as America and Poland, laws are becoming more restrictive. Some 46m abortions are thought to be carried out annually (more than one in three pregnancies is terminated). Of these, 20m are illegal, resulting in the deaths of some 70,000 women, according to the World Health Organisation."

Source: The Economist

1 comment:

OneEyedMan said...

That depends on what you consider "terminated pregnancies", because my understanding is that 25%-50% pregnancies spontaneously abort depending on what you count. I imagine the article refers to deliberate termination, and that their percentages come out of the remaining pool of fetuses.