Maternal Mortality and Abortion – Myths and Facts

By J.C. von Krempach, J.D. | April 30, 2010

The need to reduce maternal mortality is an argument frequently used to promote the legalisation of abortion, or indeed a “Right to Abortion.”

This argument runs as follows:

Every year, x women die as a result of botched illegal abortions, which take place under unsafe conditions. If abortion was legal (and affordable), they could have recourse to safe abortions. This would be the lesser evil: women who want to have abortion, will have abortion anyway (the life of the child can therefore not be protected) – but by legalizing abortion one can at least protect the pregnant woman’s life.

The facts, however, are the following:

  • It is estimated that every year there are ca. 50 million abortions worldwide. Roughly 40% of these are estimated to be ‘illegal’. That makes 20 million illegal abortions every year.
  • For the purposes of the above-quoted argument, the pro-abortion lobby usually quote a figure of 65.000 women (other sources quote even 74.000 women) dying as a consequence of ‘illegal’ abortions every year. For the sake of argument, we use the higher estimate.
  • If 74.000 of 20 million having an illegal abortion die in the process, the death risk is 0,37 %. In other words: of 1000 women having an illegal abortion, less than four will die. 996 will survive. By contrast, of the 1000 children, not a single one will survive.
  • The statistics remain, however, conspicuously silent on the death risk associated with ‘legal’ abortions. No statistics are ever provided by the UN or any other source in this regard. Yet common sense tells us that statistics on ‘legal’ abortions must be much more readily available than statistics on ‘illegal’ abortions.
  • It also seems very unlikely that ‘legal’ abortions are completely free of risk. Thus, the comparison is not between 0,37% risk and nought, but between 0,37% and a risk that remains to be identified.
  • It should be noted that ‘illegal’ and ‘legal’ abortions are often carried out by the same practitioners, using the same methods and implements. Furthermore, the ‘illegality’ may simply result from the fact that, in a country where abortion is ‘legal’ during the first three months, it takes place at a later stage of the pregnancy – which naturally increases the risk for the pregnant woman.

A report on the worldwide incidence of abortion in 1995, published by the pro-abortionist Guttmacher Institute, provides the following information: “Approximately 26 million legal and 20 million illegal abortions were performed worldwide in 1995″ (International Family Planning Perspectives, 1999, 25(Supplement):S30-S38,). UNFPA reports (on its website) that “more than 50 million of the 190 million women who become pregnant each year have abortions”. The quote of 40% illegal abortions was quoted in a recent report by the UN. This (40% of 50 million) is how the estimate of 20 million illegal abortions is reached.

[2]UNFPA

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