Unsafe Abortion Essay

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In the absence of safe legal measure for termination of pregnancy, women opt for unsafe abortions and such unsafe abortions may result into complication in the woman’s body even resulting in her death. Unsafe abortions often occur where abortion is illegal.
An unsafe abortion is the termination of pregnancy by people lacking the necessary skills, or in an environment lacking minimal medical standards or both. It may refer to an extremely dangerous life-threatening procedure that is self-induced in unhygienic conditions.
Unsafe abortion is a significant cause of maternal morality and injury in the world. Most of the unsafe abortions occur in countries where abortion is illegal or in majority of developing countries where well-trained medical practitioners are not readily available.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) in 2003 published an estimate that approximately 42 million pregnancies were terminated, of which 20 million were unsafe abortions. Around 60,000 women die approximately as a result of complications of unsafe abortion, infection and injuries to the internal organs.
According to data compiled by Ipas India, an international NGO, unsafe abortions are killing a woman every two hours in India, according to estimates and calculations correlating data on maternal morality ratio and Sample Registration Services.

Unsafe Abortions Around the World
Region Number of unsafe abortions (thousands) Number of unsafe abortions per 100 live births Number of unsafe abortions per 1000 women
Africa 4200 14 24
Asia* 10500 14 13
Europe 500 7 3
Latin America and the Caribbean 3700 32 29
North America Negligible incidence Negligible incidence Negligible incidence
Oceania ** 30 12 17
World 19000 14 14
* Excluding Japan
** Excluding Austr...

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...has increased rampantly in the past half century, it is not only in the personal interest of the life giver, but also in the interest of the economy as a whole that the right to abortion must vest with the life giver. If the life giver perceives that it would not be able to provide the “right to life”, as understood in the modern sense, to the fetus, the life giver must have the discretion to abort the fetus before its maturity. Having suggested this, with right to abortion comes the threat of its abuse and misuse.
The intent of abortion is of fundamental importance. Not every act of abortion can be compartmentalized in the category of “right to life”. Where there is an element of criminality involved in the abortion, the right becomes a wrong. Now, whether act of abortion is criminal in nature will have to be adjudged on the facts and circumstances of each case.

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