Ladies – don’t tell me you missed it. But, September 28 was International Safe Abortion day. Where were you? With all the anti-abortion rhetoric these days due to The Donald and the conservative winds he ushered in, you probably didn’t know this day was going on. It didn’t get a lot of attention.
Even SuzyKnew! was asleep at the switch. But, all the anti-abortion groups came out the woodwork. Google Safe Abortion Day and see what comes up.
September28.org is the official site
So, in honor of this day, we’ll go over a few important stats and graphs so you will feel you have done your part in getting accurate information on the topic to share with others.
First – How many unsafe abortions are there a year?
The Guttmacher Institute, the premier reproductive health organization whose mission is to research this topic and other reproductive health issues, states worldwide there are 25 million unsafe abortions, or 45% of all abortions
Guttamacher estimates that there are around 56 million abortions worldwide each year. Most unsafe abortions (97%) take place in developing countries. But, this does not mean we in the States could not see unsafe abortion become a problem in light of the current political environment.
What are the abortion trends worldwide? The number of abortions has gone down in the States which could contribute to the rise of states taking steps to ban abortion believing its affecting fewer women. But, in developing countries – especially those that have restrictive laws against abortion, limited access to contraception, and weak health systems – abortion is increasing.
Here’s a brief news clip on what happened in South Africa on Safe Abortion Day