More Contraceptive Use, Fewer Abortions

According to the Guttmacher Institute and World Health Organization (WHO), the number of abortions performed worldwide, decreasing most in countries where abortion is widely legal. The decline corresponds in many areas to substantially increased contraceptive use in the region. The full report, Induced Abortion: Rates and Trends Worldwide, is in the October 13, 2007 issue of the medical journal, The Lancet.

Unfortunately, according to a news release:

The study also found that an estimated 20 million unsafe abortions occurred in 2003, 97% of these in developing regions. The prevalence of unsafe abortion remains high, with up to 39 unsafe abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 in Eastern Africa and 33 per 1,000 in South America. By contrast, developed regions, where almost all countries allow abortions with few restrictions, had an average unsafe abortion rate of two per 1,000. The consequences of unsafe abortion—death, serious injury, infertility and increased health care cost are largely borne by poor women. The report concludes that reducing the incidence of unsafe abortion would result in an immediate and substantial reduction of maternal mortality and improve maternal health.

"Nearly half of all induced abortions are unsafe, putting the lives and health of women at major risk. Each year, about 70,000 women die due to unsafe abortion and an additional five million suffer permanent or temporary disability," notes Dr. Paul F.A. Van Look, director of WHO’s Department of Reproductive Health and Research. “The widespread unmet need for contraception must be addressed if we are to see further decline in abortion rates, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, where contraceptive use is low and unsafe abortion-related mortality is the high, compared with other regions."

With all the research and evidence out there pointing towards the increased use of contraceptives as a critical factor in decreasing abortion rates, one might think that countries like the United States would then adopt policies supporting contraceptive use. Silly me. I forgot that science and evidence are much less important to our current federal oversight of health policies than a small segment’s zealous religious beliefs. Wouldn’t you know that Dr. Susan Orr is the new Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary for Population Affairs. Tennessee Women’s Guerilla Blog notes that Orr is anti-contraception, best evidenced by her celebration of the Bush administration's suggestion that they eliminate contraceptive coverage requirement from federal employees' health insurance. While at the Family Research Council, she said, "We're quite pleased because fertility is not a disease. It's not a medical necessity that you have it."


Planned Parenthood launched an online petition asking folks to speak out against her. If you care about reducing the number of abortions performed in the US, and about women’s reproductive health in general, please make your voice heard. (And last time I checked – which was at 6 pm last night when I swallowed my Pill – not all women take contraceptives merely to prevent pregnancy. For many of us, in fact, it is “a medical necessity that you have it,” but whatever. If God didn’t want us to suffer, He would not have inflicted us with polycystic ovarian syndrome or other conditions that birth control alleviates.)

Someone in the administration forgot to forward this memo about the terribleness of birth control onto the Navy. As The Kaiser Family Foundation reports:

The Navy emphasizes the importance of condoms, birth control pills or other contraceptive methods, according to the Pilot. It also provides access to emergency contraception, which can prevent pregnancy if taken within 72 hours of sexual intercourse, at all clinics and hospitals.

Of course, there is a serious shortage of personnel in the armed forces these days, and pregnant servicewomen just won’t do.

In response to the Guttmacher report, Amanda Marcotte at Pandagon noted that abortion bans “do nothing to stop abortions, but they do a whole lot in killing and maiming women and orphaning children.” This is why the violent protests that take place outside of reproductive health clinics across the US are so insane. Planned Parenthood also has a new blog documenting the threats that workers in an Aurora, IL clinic under siege from anti-choice terrorists face. The stories at I am Emily X show just how much anti-choice fanatics “love” life: from calling workers “sluts” to spewing invective at people sitting in a car to photographing their license plates (as Emily X wrote, “It's one thing to yell things at me and wave signs in my face, but it's quite another to violate my privacy and jeopardize my family.”). It’s extremely moving to read about what staff workers deal with in order to do their jobs, and incredibly inspiring to see their dedication to women’s health and lives in spite of the threats they receive to their own.

Research proves that contraceptives lower abortion rates, but there are many people in power who want to prevent people from using them. We also know that protests, bans, and diversions do not stop women from obtaining abortions. They just put them more at risk of dying from them. What’s “pro-life” about that?

Suzanne also blogs at Campaign for Unshaved Snatch (CUSS) & Other Rants