RESUMO
Abortion laws are key in creating an enabling environment that facilitates the advancement of people's sexual and reproductive health and rights. Around 50 countries have liberalized their abortion laws in the last decades by adding new grounds allowing abortion. The road toward the expansion of legal abortion is a long, highly sensitive, and difficult process. The specific role of healthcare providers in influencing abortion law reforms has been scarcely studied. With the objective to better understand their (potential) roles, a qualitative study was conducted in 2021 focusing on three countries that had recently liberalized their abortion regulations: Argentina, South Korea, and Ireland. For each country, key informant interviews were conducted with actors in advocacy for legal change, the majority with healthcare providers. The study results indicate that healthcare providers can contribute to the expansion of legal abortion through their influence on public and legal debates. Healthcare providers were found to be scientifically credible and trustworthy. Their voice and argumentation counteracted anti-rights arguments and addressed information gaps, by providing specific clinical experiences and medical information. Healthcare providers amplified women's experiences through their testimonies and had entry points within governmental bodies, which facilitated their advocacy. These healthcare providers often functioned as individual operating obstetrician/gynecologists or general practitioners who were engaged in networks of health professionals or had previous advocacy experience. In a global context of social and political contention around abortion, extending the engagement of healthcare providers in law and policy deliberation on abortion appears to be useful. This requires recognizing the diversity of roles that healthcare providers can take up, creating a safe environment in which they can operate, equipping them with skills that go beyond the medical expert role and facilitating strategic partnerships that seek complementarity between multiple stakeholders, building on the uniqueness of each stakeholder's expertise.
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido , Aborto Legal , Gravidez , Feminino , Humanos , Argentina , Irlanda , Pessoal de Saúde , República da CoreiaRESUMO
Abortion rights in international law have historically been framed within a medico-legal paradigm, the belief that regulated systems of legal and medical control guarantee safe abortion. However, a growing worldwide practice of self-managed abortion (SMA) supported by feminist activism challenges key precepts of this paradigm. SMA activism has shown that more than medical service delivery matters to safe abortion and has called into question the legal regulation of abortion beyond criminal prohibitions. This article explores how abortion rights have begun to depart from the medico-legal paradigm and to support the novel norms and practices of SMA activism in a transformation of the abortion field. Abortion rights as reimagined in SMA activism increasingly feature in human rights agendas related to structural violence and inequality, collective organising and international solidarity, and democratic engagement.
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido , Aborto Legal , Feminino , Feminismo , Direitos Humanos , Humanos , Direito Internacional , GravidezRESUMO
The 2017 expanded Mexico City Policy prohibits non-US-based nongovernmental organizations from receiving US global health assistance if they either perform or refer for abortion services. We study the effects of the expanded policy on implementing partners of US-funded HIV programming by the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) via a primary survey in all recipient countries and key-informant interviews in South Africa and the Kingdom of Eswatini (May-November 2018). Survey results showed that 28 percent (56 of 198) of organizations reported stopping or reducing at least one service in response to the policy. Reported service reductions included reducing the delivery of information about sexual and reproductive health, pregnancy counseling, contraception provision, and HIV testing and counseling. Interview data highlighted how these reductions were often a result of decreased patient flows or implementation of the expanded policy beyond what is required. Reductions disproportionately harmed pregnant women, youth, and key populations such as sex workers and men who have sex with men. Reduced delivery of sexual and reproductive health services has the potential to negatively affect many intended beneficiaries of PEPFAR funding, especially in areas with high HIV prevalence. Policy makers must respond to disruptions in service delivery and end any implementation that undermines US investment in high-quality HIV and sexual and reproductive health services.
Assuntos
Infecções por HIV , Minorias Sexuais e de Gênero , Adolescente , Feminino , Saúde Global , Infecções por HIV/epidemiologia , Infecções por HIV/prevenção & controle , Serviços de Saúde , Homossexualidade Masculina , Humanos , Cooperação Internacional , Masculino , México , Gravidez , África do SulAssuntos
Aborto Induzido , Médicos , Aborto Criminoso , El Salvador , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar , Feminino , Humanos , GravidezRESUMO
Approximately 47 000 women die each year worldwide as a result of the complications of unsafe abortion, almost exclusively in low- and middle-income countries with restrictive abortion laws. In these countries, very few women who comply with the conditions imposed by the law can access safe abortion services in the public health system. The main obstacle is the unwillingness of gynecologists and obstetricians to provide abortion services by claiming conscientious objection, which is often used to hide their fear of the stigma associated with abortion. This happens because many colleagues are unaware that without access to legal services these women will resort to an unsafe abortion and its consequences. This violates the statement from FIGO's Committee for the Ethical Aspects of Human Reproduction and Women's Health, which asserts that: "The primary conscientious duty of obstetrician-gynecologists is at all times to treat, or provide benefit and prevent harm, to the patients for whose care they are responsible. Any conscientious objection to treating a patient is secondary to this primary duty."
Assuntos
Aborto Criminoso/estatística & dados numéricos , Ginecologia/ética , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Obstetrícia/ética , Serviços de Saúde da Mulher/legislação & jurisprudência , Feminino , Saúde Global , Política de Saúde , Humanos , Gravidez , Segurança , Serviços de Saúde da Mulher/éticaRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: We assessed healthcare students' knowledge and opinions on Argentinian abortion law and identified differences between first- and final-year healthcare students. METHODS: In this cross-sectional study, self-administered anonymous questionnaires were administered to 760 first- and 695 final-year students from different fields of study (medicine, midwifery, nursing, radiology, nutrition, speech therapy, and physiotherapy) of the School of Medicine at the University of Buenos Aires, in 2011-2013. RESULTS: Compared to first-year students, a higher percentage of final-year students knew that abortion is legally restricted in Argentina (p < 0.001). A significantly higher percentage of final-year students could correctly identify the circumstances in which abortion is legal: woman's life risk (87.4% last vs. 79.1% first year), rape of a woman with developmental disability (66.2% first vs. 85.4% last-year; p < 0.001). More final-year students chose severe foetal malformations (37.3% first year vs. 57.3% final year) despite its being illegal. CONCLUSIONS: Although most final-year students knew that abortion is legally restricted in Argentina, misconceptions regarding circumstances of legal abortion were observed; this may be due to the fact that abortion is inadequately covered in the medical curricula. Medical schools should ensure that sexual and reproductive health topics are an integral part of their curricula. Healthcare providers who are aware of the legality of abortion are more likely to provide the public with sound information and ensure abortions are appropriately performed.
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido/legislação & jurisprudência , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Estudantes de Ciências da Saúde/estatística & dados numéricos , Adolescente , Argentina , Estudos Transversais , Currículo , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Gravidez , Inquéritos e Questionários , Adulto JovemRESUMO
OBJECTIVE: Abortion is legally restricted in Argentina. Although this law is almost 100 years old, most women who meet the criteria for legal abortion are not informed of or offered this possibility within the healthcare system. Healthcare students' knowledge and opinions on abortion may influence their future practice. They may deny a woman with an unwanted pregnancy a practice to which she is legally entitled, resulting in an unsafe abortion. This study assessed knowledge and personal opinions on the abortion law among first year healthcare students in order to design adequate educational strategies. STUDY DESIGN: In this descriptive, analytical, cross-sectional study, structured self-administered questionnaires were administered to 781 first year medical, nursing, midwifery, and other healthcare students from the Faculty of Medicine, University of Buenos Aires from 2011 to 2013. Data were recorded anonymously in SPSS 20. Student samples were adjusted for gender and fields of study using the University statistics. RESULTS: Of the students, 48.8% did not know the current regulations. Most of the students thought abortion was legally restricted and failed to recognize the circumstances in which it is allowed. Over 75% of the students were pro-abortion, especially those with sexual experience. CONCLUSION: Students lack sound knowledge on the abortion law that may affect their personal lives and influence their future professional practice. It is crucial that medical schools include sexual and reproductive health issues in their curricula in order to ensure better quality healthcare services in the future. IMPLICATIONS: In Argentina, approximately 400,000 abortions are performed every year, many under unsafe conditions, resulting in one third of the maternal deaths for the past decade. High quality sexual and reproductive healthcare services are a key strategy to improve adolescents' and women's health, thereby lowering maternal mortality.
Assuntos
Aborto Legal , Atitude do Pessoal de Saúde , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Competência Profissional , Estudantes de Medicina , Estudantes de Enfermagem , Aborto Induzido/legislação & jurisprudência , Aborto Legal/legislação & jurisprudência , Adolescente , Adulto , Argentina , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Gravidez , Inquéritos e Questionários , Adulto JovemRESUMO
This article presents the findings of a qualitative study exploring the experiences of women living in Buenos Aires Metropolitan Area, Argentina, with the use of misoprostol for inducing an abortion. We asked women about the range of decisions they had to make, their emotions, the physical experience, strategies they needed to use, including seeking health care advice and in dealing with a clandestine medical abortion, and their overall evaluation of the experience. An in-depth interview schedule was used. The women had either used misoprostol and sought counselling or care at a public hospital (n=24) or had used misoprostol based on the advice of a local hotline, information from the internet or from other women (n=21). Four stages in the women's experiences were identified: how the decision to terminate the pregnancy was taken, how the medication was obtained, how the tablets were used, and reflections on the outcome whether or not they sought medical advice. Safety and privacy were key in deciding to use medical abortion. Access to the medication was the main obstacle, requiring a prescription or a friendly drugstore. Correct information about the number of pills to use and dosage intervals was the least easy to obtain and caused concerns. The possibility of choosing a time of privacy and having the company of a close one was highlighted as a unique advantage of medical abortion. Efforts to improve abortion law, policy and service provision in Argentina in order to ensure the best possible conditions for use of medical abortion by women should be redoubled.
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido/métodos , Aborto Induzido/psicologia , Tomada de Decisões , Conhecimentos, Atitudes e Prática em Saúde , Abortivos não Esteroides/uso terapêutico , Adolescente , Adulto , Argentina , Feminino , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Hospitais Públicos , Humanos , Entrevistas como Assunto , Misoprostol/uso terapêutico , Gravidez , Medicamentos sob Prescrição , Saúde da Mulher , Adulto JovemRESUMO
In Brazil, to have a legal abortion in the case of rape, the woman's statement that rape has occurred is considered sufficient to guarantee the right to abortion. The aim of this study was to understand the practice and opinions about providing abortion in the case of rape among obstetricians-gynecologists (OBGYNs) in Brazil. A mixed-method study was conducted from April to July 2012 with 1,690 OBGYNs who responded to a structured, electronic, self-completed questionnaire. In the quantitative phase, 81.6% of the physicians required police reports or judicial authorization to guarantee the care requested. In-depth telephone interviews with 50 of these physicians showed that they frequently tested women's rape claim by making them repeat their story to several health professionals; 43.5% of these claimed conscientious objection when they were uncertain whether the woman was telling the truth. The moral environment of illegal abortion alters the purpose of listening to a patient - from providing care to passing judgement on her. The data suggest that women's access to legal abortion is being blocked by these barriers in spite of the law. We recommend that FEBRASGO and the Ministry of Health work together to clarify to physicians that a woman's statement that rape occurred should allow her to access a legal abortion.
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido/psicologia , Atitude do Pessoal de Saúde , Médicos/psicologia , Estupro/psicologia , Aborto Induzido/ética , Adulto , Idoso , Idoso de 80 Anos ou mais , Brasil , Tomada de Decisões , Feminino , Ginecologia , Acessibilidade aos Serviços de Saúde , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Obstetrícia , Relações Médico-Paciente , Religião e Medicina , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
In 2006, the Constitutional Court of Colombia issued Decision C-355/2006, which liberalized the country's abortion law. The reform was groundbreaking in its argumentation, being one of the first judicial decisions in the world to uphold abortion rights on equality grounds, and the first by a constitutional court to rule on the constitutionality of abortion within a human rights framework. It was also the first of a series of reforms that would liberalize the abortion regulation in four other Latin American countries. The Colombian case is also notable for the process of strategic litigation carried out by feminist organizations after the Court's decision, in order to ensure its implementation and counter the opposition from conservative actors working in State institutions, as well as for the active role played by the Court in that process. Based on fieldwork carried out in Colombia in 2013, this article analyzes the process of progressive implementation and reactionary backlash after Decision C-355/2006, with an emphasis on strategic litigation by the feminist movement and subsequent decisions by the Constitutional Court, which consolidated its jurisprudence in the field of abortion rights. It highlights the role of both feminists and of conservative activists within State institutions as opposing social movements, and the dynamics of political and legal mobilization and counter-mobilization in that process.
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido/legislação & jurisprudência , Feminismo , Aborto Induzido/psicologia , Catolicismo , Colômbia , Direito Penal , Feminino , Direitos Humanos , Humanos , Entrevistas como Assunto , Gravidez , Religião e Medicina , Mudança SocialRESUMO
Unsafe abortions remain a major public health problem in countries with very restrictive abortion laws. In Brazil, parliamentarians - who have the power to change the law - are influenced by "public opinion", often obtained through surveys and opinion polls. This paper presents the findings from two studies. One was carried out in February-December 2010 among 1,660 public servants and the other in February-July 2011 with 874 medical students from three medical schools, both in São Paulo State, Brazil. Both groups of respondents were asked two sets of questions to obtain their opinion about abortion: 1) under which circumstances abortion should be permitted by law, and 2) whether or not women in general and women they knew who had had an abortion should be punished with prison, as Brazilian law mandates. The differences in their answers were enormous: the majority of respondents were against putting women who have had abortions in prison. Almost 60% of civil servants and 25% of medical students knew at least one woman who had had an illegal abortion; 85% of medical students and 83% of civil servants thought this person(s) should not be jailed. Brazilian parliamentarians who are currently reviewing a reform in the Penal Code need to have this information urgently.
Assuntos
Aborto Criminoso/legislação & jurisprudência , Aborto Legal/legislação & jurisprudência , Direitos Sexuais e Reprodutivos/legislação & jurisprudência , Direitos da Mulher/legislação & jurisprudência , Adulto , Atitude do Pessoal de Saúde , Estudos Transversais , Feminino , Humanos , Masculino , Gravidez , Opinião Pública , Inquéritos e QuestionáriosRESUMO
PIP: This paper characterizes the Mexican abortion laws using the case of a girl aged 14 years, Paulina Ramirez Jacinta, who was raped, became pregnant, and chose to terminate the unwanted pregnancy, yet was denied an abortion. This case clearly showed that Mexican abortion law, despite its legality, is highly restrictive in nature and, in a way, violated the human rights of Paulina. Even though it permits first-trimester abortion procedures for rape victims or women whose lives are endangered by the pregnancy, many pregnant women still resort to illegal abortion. To further aggravate the restrictive nature of the law, Baja California state Rep. Martin Dominguez Rocha made a proposal to eliminate the rape exception in the state's penal code. The case of Paulina will be handled by the lawyers at the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy in order to arrive at a settlement favorable to Paulina.^ieng
Assuntos
Aborto Legal , Adolescente , Direitos Humanos , Legislação como Assunto , Gravidez na Adolescência , Estupro , Mulheres , Aborto Induzido , Fatores Etários , América , Crime , Demografia , Países em Desenvolvimento , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar , Fertilidade , América Latina , México , América do Norte , População , Características da População , Dinâmica Populacional , Pesquisa , Comportamento Sexual , Problemas SociaisRESUMO
PIP: This article relates the case of two young girls who became pregnant as a result of rape and their efforts to exercise their rights to terminate the pregnancy. The first victim was a 12-year-old girl from Bolivia and the second was Paulina, a 13-year-old resident of Baja California, Mexico. Though abortion is illegal in both countries, in the case of rape the procedure is "unpunishable" in Bolivia and legal in Mexico. Despite these laws, the girls, their families and their advocates contend repeatedly with local government and Catholic Church officials on the issue. Only the first victim successfully exercised her right to terminate her pregnancy through the efforts of her family and the decision of Penal Judge Luis Ledezma. This paper also highlights the need for reforms in the abortion law in both countries.^ieng
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido , Legislação como Assunto , Estupro , Mulheres , América , Bolívia , Crime , Países em Desenvolvimento , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar , América Latina , México , América do Norte , Problemas Sociais , América do SulRESUMO
PIP: The Center for Reproductive Law and Policy reports on the recent amendment of the Constitution to recognize life from the moment of conception. Researcher Soledad Varela discovered that the Catholic Church in El Salvador had been actively engaged in manipulative tactics to sway an already conservative legislature into passing the extreme laws. Although some legislators were in favor of this amendment, some believe that the reform was wrong and that therapeutic abortions and terminations of pregnancies resulting from rape should not be penalized. Restrictive abortion laws did not stop abortions from occurring; in fact, the UN estimated that 35% of all pregnancies in Chile end in illegal abortions. With the new restrictions, mothers are abandoning unwanted newborns. Illegal practitioners have become harder to trace. Nevertheless, others seem to be successful at evading the law. The wealthy have the right to choose and still avail themselves of legal, more liberal abortion laws from other countries.^ieng
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido , Catolicismo , Constituição e Estatutos , Legislação como Assunto , Pesquisa , América , América Central , Cristianismo , Países em Desenvolvimento , El Salvador , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar , América Latina , América do Norte , ReligiãoRESUMO
PIP: This article reports the nonapplication of Article 266 in the case of an 11-year-old pregnant girl in Bolivia. Article 266, is a policy on unpunishable abortion. It explicitly states that in extreme cases of pregnancy, such as the consequence of rape, abduction for sexual purposes not followed by marriage, statutory rape, or incest, abortions are not punishable by law. In the case of a developmentally disabled girl in Santa Cruz, who was raped by her stepfather and became pregnant, she was denied the choice of aborting the baby despite the order of the juvenile court judge. This was because the doctors of certain hospitals in the city refused to perform the act and leaders of the Catholic Church and conservative groups opposed the abortion. However, abortion could have been pushed through if the justice system upheld Article 266. In addition, problems in the said article are cited. The article is not sufficient for enforcement as it lacks legislation, which subsequently leaves the rights of women at the mercy of police, doctors, and judges. Although women's rights groups have presented a revised version of Article 266, it still needs the approval of the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate, and finally the president of the Bolivian Congress.^ieng
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido , Legislação como Assunto , Gravidez , Estupro , Pesquisa , Mulheres , Adolescente , Fatores Etários , América , Bolívia , Criança , Crime , Demografia , Países em Desenvolvimento , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar , América Latina , População , Características da População , Reprodução , Problemas Sociais , América do SulRESUMO
PIP: At February's Cairo+5 proceedings at the Hague, the Center for Reproductive Law and Policy (CRLP) called a press conference to discuss changes in abortion laws around the world since the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in 1994. According to the director of CRLP's International Program, 9 countries have modified their abortion laws since Cairo. Of those, 7 liberalized their laws, while Poland and El Salvador further restricted legislation. The CRLP supports the liberalization of abortion laws for all women in all countries. Abortion law has been liberalized in South Africa since Cairo, with the enactment in 1997 of the Termination of Pregnancy Act. In contrast, however, anti-choice groups in Poland successfully challenged the legality of abortion in 1996 by declaring it against the Polish Constitution. Abortion is prohibited in Chile in all circumstances, even to save the life of the woman. However, despite the illegality of abortion in that country, half of all pregnancies in Chile end in abortion. Unsafe abortion contributes to the 50% maternal mortality rate in Nepal. Abortion in the country is punishable by a 20-year prison sentence, regardless of the age of the woman.^ieng
Assuntos
Aborto Induzido , Legislação como Assunto , África , África Subsaariana , África Austral , América , Ásia , América Central , Chile , Países Desenvolvidos , Países em Desenvolvimento , El Salvador , Europa (Continente) , Europa Oriental , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar , América Latina , Nepal , América do Norte , Polônia , África do Sul , América do SulRESUMO
The essay discusses abortion in Puerto Rico from 1937 to 1970, concentrating in its legal status as well as its social practice. The research documents the contradictions between the legality of the procedure and a social practice characterized by secrecy. The essay discusses the role of the Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion in promoting the legal practice of absortion in Puerto Rico. It also discusses the ambivalent role of medical doctors who, despite being legally authorized to perform abortions to protect the life and health of women, refused to perform the procedure arguing abortion was illegal. The essay concludes with a brief discussion on perceptions of illegality regarding abortion, emphasizing the contradictions between the practice of abortion and that of sterilization in Puerto Rico.
PIP: The legal status and occurrence of abortion in Puerto Rico are examined for the years from 1937 (when abortion under some conditions was legalized) through 1970. A series of legislative initiatives in 1937 repealed laws prohibiting interstate transportation of contraceptive materials and information, legalized contraceptive sterilization, and permitted abortion to conserve the health or life of the woman. The effective legalization of abortion in 1937 was not publicly recognized at the time or in later decades, and the legal changes apparently did not lead immediately to a significant increase in the number of abortions, unlike sterilizations, which did increase significantly. The requirement that indications for therapeutic abortion be identified by physicians excluded the nurses and midwives who had traditionally been responsible for most births and abortions. Foreign organizations such as the Clergy Consultation Service promoted the legal practice of abortion in Puerto Rico. Efforts in 1964 to amend the penal code to curtail abortion were less successful than the passage by New York in 1970 of the most liberal abortion law in the US, which greatly reduced the number of abortions in Puerto Rico. Puerto Rican women able to pay obtained abortions from trained professionals, despite the perception of abortion as illegal, but poor women had recourse to poorly trained midwives and nurses at best. A training program for midwives during the 1930s provided instruction and equipment necessary for safe deliveries, but the knowledge gained was reflected in safer abortions and declining maternal mortality.
Assuntos
Aborto Criminoso/história , Aborto Legal/história , Aborto Criminoso/legislação & jurisprudência , Adulto , Atitude do Pessoal de Saúde , Feminino , História do Século XX , Humanos , Gravidez , Porto Rico , Esterilização Reprodutiva/legislação & jurisprudênciaRESUMO
PIP: Surveys conducted in Mexico by GIRE in 1992, 1994, and 1995 reveal that over 80% of the national population believes only a woman or a woman and her partner should make abortion decisions. Neither the government, the Church, nor physicians should intervene. Public opinion and the documented social and public health consequences of illegal abortion demonstrate the obsolescence of laws penalizing abortion. Mexico does not have a direct means of converting the opinions of the population into votes and laws. In place of referendums, committees of specialists have been convened; they are limited in number and ability to represent diverse groups, and oriented above all to the losses and gains of political and parliamentary disputes. The electoral reform of 1995-96 was a good example of the question under debate getting lost in partisan maneuvering. The Federal District and four states have initiated development of the referendum process, but the procedures have been too cumbersome and the results disappointing. In the current day, opinions are often formed not by following a rational process, but by bombardment with advertising appealing to irrational emotions. The democratic effects of referendum should be furthered by guaranteeing fair and exhaustive exposure of all points of view before the vote is held. GIRE recommends that a referendum on decriminalization of abortion should be preceded by a period of at least two years for public debate and reflection, and that the Federal Electoral Institute should organize the debate and the referendum.^ieng
Assuntos
Estudos de Avaliação como Assunto , Legislação como Assunto , Métodos , Política , Opinião Pública , Aborto Induzido , América , Atitude , Comportamento , Países em Desenvolvimento , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar , América Latina , México , América do Norte , Organização e Administração , PsicologiaRESUMO
PIP: As part of the observance of the Day for Decriminalization of Abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean, a meeting of 50 journalists representing 18 countries was held in Mexico City from September 5 to 8. The journalists discussed consequences in their countries of the illegality of abortion, and agreed that it is the most serious reproductive health problem in the region. The journalists were not necessarily active in women¿s organizations working for legal abortion, but they had all demonstrated sensitivity to the problem. The meeting demonstrated the utility of mass media in the formation of a culture of respect for reproductive and sexual rights. The example of the decriminalization vote in Guyana, which was obtained by a nonpartisan vote in Congress with full citizen support, shows what can be achieved with organization, opportunity, and hard work.^ieng
Assuntos
Legislação como Assunto , Meios de Comunicação de Massa , Pesquisa , Aborto Induzido , América , Comunicação , Países em Desenvolvimento , Serviços de Planejamento Familiar , América Latina , México , América do NorteRESUMO
PIP: Induced abortion remains a relatively uncharted research topic in medical demography, social science, and to a lesser extent, in epidemiology. Up to 20% of the 500,000 maternal deaths which occur annually throughout the world, however, may be a consequence of complications of unsafe abortion procedures. The UNDP/UNFPA/WHO/World Bank Special Program of Research, Development, and Research Training in Human Reproduction started a number of studies in 1989 in developing countries on the determinants and consequences of induced abortion. The program's research has produced a wealth of data, with many countries taking important steps to change abortion policy in the interest of improving reproductive health. For example, a study in Mauritius of women hospitalized for abortion revealed that 20% of them had not been using a method of contraception when they became pregnant; a motion was subsequently tabled in the National Assembly to decriminalize abortion. Another study in Chile showed the incidence of induced abortions to be generally under-reported by women and that interventions based upon sound policy can reduce their incidence and improve reproductive health.^ieng