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UNSAFE ABORTIONS AND ABORTION LAWS

SANDRA FEDER
MR. TOOLE
FRIDAY MAY 8th 2015

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Preface
There is no denying that abortion is a controversial issue in today's society. It's a constant battle
about human rights regarding the unborn child and the expectant mother. Some religious groups
view it as a sin and others view it as "my mind, my body, my choice." But there is a much larger
issue also at hand. In many countries abortion is not always a viable option due to religious or
legal reasons, and when this problem arises many women turn to another option; induced
abortion. Induced or unsafe abortion is the termination of pregnancy done by an untrained
practitioner in a location that does not meet minimal medical standards. (Unsafe Abortions: as
Defined by the World Health Organization). The purpose of this report is to give an overview of
the issue and provide focus to key points such as the background and share some case studies
from developing nations, along with a short North American study.
The main factor leading to a high abortion rate in a country is the restrictive abortion laws,
especially in developing nations. Depending on the country they live in, women can occasionally
receive legal abortions for specific reasons. When women do not qualify for an abortion they
choose to terminate the pregnancy themselves, they have a vast selection of methods to choose
from. These include but are not limited to: drinking toxic fluids such as turpentine, bleach, or
drinkable concoctions mixed with livestock manure, direct injury to the vagina, inserting a twig,
coat hanger, or chicken bone into the uterus. External forms include: jumping from the top of
stairs or a roof or inflicting direct trauma to the abdomen.
According to Gilda Sedgh a Principal Research Scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, nearly half
of abortions worldwide are unsafe and 98% of unsafe abortions take place in developing
countries. The World Health Organization estimates that unsafe abortions cause the deaths of at
least 200 women each day, over 70,000 women each year. Yet it is said to be "one of the most
easily preventable and treatable causes of maternal mortality" (WHO Safe Motherhood
Conference, 1998). Of the ones who survive, 5 million will suffer long term heath complications.
The negative effects of having an unsafe abortion are significant. They include but are not
limited to: hemorrhage, infection, sepsis, genital trauma, and necrotic bowel.

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Table of Contents
Preface

pg.2

Summary of Resources

pg. 4

Background

pg.5

Expert

pg.7

Role of Control

pg. 8

Logic of Evil
pg. 10
Religion and Spirituality

pg.11

CASE STUDIES
Turkey

pg.12

Kenya

pg. 14

El Salvador

pg. 17

International Organizations

pg. 19

Canada

pg. 22

United States

pg. 24

Solutions

pg.25

Bibliography

pg. 27

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SUMMARY OF RESEARCH METHODS

For this report my main research method was google search engine. I used many university
research websites and government studies. I used online news documents, both written and
video. I also got statistics from well-known international organizations. I also used published
works.

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BACKGROUND
Abortion has been around for many centuries and has been present in a wide variety of cultures,
woman have always helped each other abort. There were woman healers that provided abortion
and taught the practice to others. The first abortion law was passed in Britain in 1803. The laws
became stricter throughout the century. By 1880, abortion was restricted in most areas except for
those deemed ``necessary to save the life of the woman.''
The leading cause for abortion laws was the humanitarian reform in the mid-19th century.
Political leaders claimed to be protecting women from the crude methods, few antiseptics, and
high mortality rates. But in reality they were restricting women to their "traditional childbearing
role." But making abortions illegal did not reduce the need for them or prevent them from
happening. Women who could afford to pay skilled doctors or go to a country with fewer
restrictions had the safest and easiest abortions, but many could not afford this luxury.
In the 1960's illegal abortionists and doctors did not care for the safety of their patients, they only
cared how much they were being rewarded for their skills or lack thereof. Some didn't even use
anesthesia, it took too long for women to recover, and they wanted women out of the office as
quickly as possible to ensure their own protection.
The late 1960's was a time of change. Women began fighting for their rights and demanding the
legalization of abortions. Change came steadily and a few states loosened their abortion laws
allowing abortions in cases of rape, incest or if the patient is under 15 years of age. Although the
ultimate decision was up to the doctors and costs were still high there was a definite
improvement. "On January 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court, in the famous Roe v. Wade
decision, stated that the ``right of privacy...founded in the Fourteenth Amendment's concept of
personal liberty...is broad enough to encompass a woman's decision whether or not to terminate
her pregnancy.'' The Court held that through the end of the first trimester of pregnancy, only a
pregnant woman and her doctor have the legal rights to make the decision about an abortion.
States can restrict second-trimester abortions unless in the interest of the woman's safety.
Protection of a ``viable fetus'' (able to survive outside the womb) is allowed only during the third
trimester. If a pregnant woman's life or health is endangered, she cannot be forced to continue the
pregnancy." (Boston Women's Health Book Collective.)

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Between 1997 and 2008, the grounds on which abortion may be legally performed expanded into
17 countries: Benin, Bhutan, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Ethiopia, Guinea, Iran, Mali, Nepal,
Niger, Portugal, Saint Lucia, Swaziland, Switzerland, Thailand and Togo, Mexico City and parts
of Australia.

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EXPERT
Dr. Nehemiah Kimathi is a trained pediatrician who began his career in Kenyan hospitals, and
later moved to administrative roles in Kenya's health ministry. Dr. Kimathi is now a member of
the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF). The IPPF helps millions of people avoid
unsafe childbirth, unsafe sex, unsafe abortion, STI-related illnesses and HIV-related stigma and
discrimination. And fight for local, national and global policies which recognize a fundamental
human right - the right to sexual and reproductive health. Dr. Kimathi is currently taking part in
the Sixth Africa Conference on Sexual Health and Rights in Yaounde, Cameroon. He is
discussing Abortion laws and rights of the woman.
Most of Dr. Kimathi's work takes place in Kenya where there has been a proposed clause in their
constitution stating that doctors should no longer aid in pregnancy complications, even to save a
mother's life. Dr. Kimathi is against this he states that "The inclusion of the clause will make life
so difficult even in providing reproductive health services to the extent that in this country where
we have made very good progress in the improvement of SRH programs This will drive us
backward, so that the gains we have made in terms of maternal health we could now slide
backward and get a little worse off than we are at this stage."
Rather than stopping abortions Dr. Kimathi wishes to propose a new and potentially safer
method, Misoprostol. Misoprostol is a drug that induces abortion rather than having to do it
clinically. "If it is available and the women are trained on its use. It can be used as a means of
procuring a safe abortion. What should be done is to make sure that the pill is available in the
pharmacy, then women are trained to use itwhen to take it and what possible complications to
expect," he explained. He strongly believes that this pill has the ability to greatly reduce the
number of complications and deaths due to abortion in developing nations.

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Role of Control
Many people would say that when it comes to unsafe abortion the majority of control lies with
the woman receiving the abortion. This is not necessarily true. Mothers have some control, but a
lot of the control actually lies with the government. They have control over the abortion laws and
this is the biggest player in the game. Statistics show that once abortion is made legal the number
of complications and deaths decline dramatically. In Nepal, abortion was made legal in 2002. In
1998 abortion-related complications accounted for 54% of all facility-treated maternal illnesses,
but for only 28% in 20082009. In South Africa, the annual number of abortion-related deaths
fell by 91% after the liberalization of the abortion law. This goes to show that the laws have
made a difference.
The government also has control of the methods of protection against unwanted pregnancy.
Approximately 215 million women in the developing world have an unmet need for modern
contraceptives. They rely upon a traditional family planning method or no method at all. This is
not efficient. The government needs to help women receive these modern contraceptives in order
to reduce the rate of unwanted pregnancies which will then reduce the number of unsafe
abortions happening in the developing world.
Some control is also placed with a group that is often overlooked when it comes to unsafe
abortions. The untrained practitioners who perform the abortion have a significant amount of
control in the outcome of the situation. They should turn away patients that are too far along in
their pregnancy for a healthy abortion. Or they should use safer methods rather than ones that
will cause sever harm to the woman. There are also many cases where the women were not
warned of the possible repercussions of the abortion. Overall, the one doing the abortion needs to
be more careful, they have a lot of control regarding the outcome of the procedure.
Then of course there is the most obvious one in control, the mothers. They control the entire
decision-making process leading up to the abortion. They made the decision to have sex,
knowing the potential outcome. The woman had the choice to let the child be born or to abort.
She has the choice to do it herself or receive medical care.

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LOGIC OF EVIL
When forming a judgment about a global issue it is important to look at it from more than one
perspective. Everyone thinks differently so it is good to try and see the logic in everyone's
actions. In this case, one must look at the justification of abortion laws and the women who
receive unsafe abortions and those who provide them.
Many countries have strict abortion laws for highly religious reasons. They believe that sex
should wait until marriage and that if a woman is pregnant before marriage she deserves to live
with the sin. However, there are a few exceptions. If pregnancy results from rape, incest, the
patient is under the age of 15 or the pregnancy poses a threat to the woman's or fetus' health the
pregnancy can be terminated with the approval of a doctor. Some religions view the situation as
a case where the child deserves the chance to live and the mother' is in fact murdering her own
child. So by having high abortion laws they assume more women would have the children rather
than abort, but that does not seem to be the case.
When women say they have gotten an abortion the first conclusion people come to is that it was
an unwanted pregnancy and it was selfish to not let the child live. What people do not understand
is the other reasoning women have for not wanting children, especially in developing countries.
Many of these women live in and grew up in poverty; they do not wish this upon their children.
Or they were raped and do not want a constant reminder of the event. Sometimes it's to appease
their own parents, religion and dignity are important for many. There are many more
justifications that could be proven but in the end it is all a matter of personal belief.
The untrained practitioners providing the abortions justify their actions many ways. They justify
not using anesthetic on patients because they are afraid of the wake up taking too long and if a
law enforcement officer came by there would be severe consequences. These doctors believe
they are doing a favor to these women, which is why they charge so much. They believe they are
taking more risk than the patients and may not even realize the severity of the possible side
effects.

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Religion and Spirituality

As discussed in the logic of evil section, religion plays a major role in the case of abortion laws.
The Catholic Church plays a huge role in the legalization of abortion and it always has. Catholics
strongly believe that "human life must be respected and protected absolutely from the moment of
conception. From the first moment of his existence, a human being must be recognized as having
the rights of a person - among which is the inviolable right of every innocent being to life."
(vatican.va). Abortion is the killing of a fetus, which is the equivalent of murder. However, many
Catholic doctors are willing to look past this belief if it will save the life of the pregnant woman.
They will remove the uterus or fallopian tubes of a pregnant woman, knowing the procedure will
cause the death of the embryo or fetus. This is not the case in many Latin American countries
like El Salvador.

Catholics are not the only ones that have a viewpoint on abortions. For example: Although the
Sikh code of conduct does not deal directly with abortion it is generally forbidden in Sikhism
because it is said to interfere with the creative work of God. Hindu texts strongly condemn
abortion. And, orthodox Jewish people oppose abortion after the 40th day.

It is strong beliefs like this that make it difficult for countries to pass laws that will help save the
lives of many young females.

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Case Studies -Turkey

Located on the coastline of the Indian Ocean, Turkey is among the most populous countries in
the Middle East. This is due to their Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoan insisting for Turkish
couples to have at least three children. "Ever since the government started to focus on population
growth and pro-natalist policies in 2007, obstacles have increased for women wanting an
abortion," stated Selin Dagistanli of the campaign group Abortion Is a Right. There are
approximately 18 million females of reproductive age in Turkey. Approximately 1.5 million
births take place annually and 7281000 women die due to pregnancy, delivery, and birth-related
complications.

Turkey has made progress in improving reproductive health since the 1994 International
Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt. At the International
Conference on Population and Development, various opinions of human rights, population,
sexual and reproductive health, gender equality and sustainable development, merged into a
remarkable global consensus that placed human rights, including the right to plan one's family
being at the very heart of development. Goals and strategies of the ICDP can be seen in Turkey's
Development Plan, and their National Strategic Plan for Women's Health and Family Planning,
which highlights the need to reduce differences between and within the regions and between
different population groups. In the early 1980s, the growing occurrence of unsafe abortion in
Turkey and the resulting morbidity and mortality rates led the government to liberalize the law
further and make abortion widely available. Evidence that this worked is due to the fact that in
the 1950's abortion accounted for 50% of the countries maternal mortality after the bill was
proposed if fell to only 2%.

Despite the advancements in family planning and women's health, there are various issues
regarding childbirth and abortion laws in the country. Unsafe abortion is one of the major causes
of death among women of reproductive age in Turkey. The Population Planning Law in 1983
provided safe abortion on request during the first 10 weeks of gestation for every woman who
needed the service, yet research conducted in 1997 at 615 hospitals in 53 provinces determined
the main causes of maternal mortality are due to hemorrhages, pregnancy-related hypertension,
and infection. 4% of women died because of unsafe abortion complications. (Igde).

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Recently, Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdoan has made it even more difficult to receive
abortions within Turkey. The government has proposed a new law that will make it virtually
impossible to receive a legal abortion. Under this new law, abortions may only be carried out by
trained obstetricians, rather than the certified practitioners and local health clinics they can be
provided by right now. The new law will allow doctors to refuse a patient based on conscience,
and a mandatory "consideration time" for women requesting a termination. This will affect
women in rural areas of the country the most. This dramatically limits the availability because
there are few obstetricians in this area to perform the abortions, so they must refer even the most
severe cases to other hospitals. In many areas, there is only one hospital with one obstetrician, so
if a woman gets refused many cannot afford to travel in order to receive proper care.

"The name of the draft bill puts child abuse and abortion on one level. It criminalizes a medical
procedure that needs to be available to women" said Deniz Bayram, a lawyer at the Purple Roof
women's shelter in Istanbul. The bill will likely pass due to the majority government, and women
fear it will be passed overnight in order to avoid large protests. Health professionals and human
rights activists are worried that the country will go back to their old ways with a high maternal
mortality rate if the new bill is passed.

Solutions to the problem in this country would be to simply not pass the new bill. But that will
not completely solve the issue. The Turkish government should allow more than just
obstetricians to perform abortions. Many mid-level healthcare providers such as nurses,
midwives, clinical officers and others with appropriate training can safely and effectively offer
abortion-related care that is both accessible and highly acceptable to women. This would help
because they are more geographically dispersed and more likely to work in rural areas than
obstetricians.

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Kenya
Located between Uganda and Somalia, and like Turkey, beside the Indian Ocean; in Kenya the
most common reason for unsafe abortions is unintentional pregnancy. This is due to the unmet
need for contraceptives in the country. 45% percent of women want to prevent pregnancy but are
not using any family planning method. The problem is more common in rural areas, where
women are less educated and more financially unstable than women than in urban areas, who
have at least a secondary education or are relatively wealthy. Another problem leading to
unintended pregnancy is the restriction on sexual education in the country, because of this there
are many myths revolving around the use of condoms in Kenya, such as:

The condom will become displaced, swim through your body and later come out of
your mouth when you are asleep

Your body will react to the oils of the condom and make your stomach swell as if you
are pregnant

You will contract HIV, because condom manufacturing companies supposedly inject
the HI virus into condoms in order to control population; and

The female will feel severe pain.

This leads to 70% of adolescents in Kenya reportedly engaging in unprotected sex. A survey in
Kenyan high schools reported that less than 25% of females were unaware that birth control has
to be taken daily, not just before intercourse. (Zozulya). The country should drop the ban on
sexual education. If teens know the truth about contraceptives; they would know and understand
the risks.

In 2010, Kenya adopted a new constitution that provides stronger protection for the lives and
health of women, before this it was highly illegal. The new constitution states that unsafe
abortions are permit able when "in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is need for
emergency treatment, or the life or health of the [pregnant woman] is in danger, or if permitted
by any other written law" and "a person shall not be denied emergency treatment."
(guttmacher.org). However, other parts of the penal code have not been changed to correspond
with the new law. Article 26 in the draft contains 4 clauses on the rights to life which state that:
1) Every person has the right to life;

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2) The life of a person begins at conception;
3) A person shall not be deprived of life intentionally, except to the extent authorized by this
constitution or other written law; and
4) Abortion is not permitted unless, in the opinion of a trained health professional, there is a
need for emergency treatment, or the life or health of the mother is in danger, or if permitted
by any other written law. (Zozulya)

This makes many medical practitioners reluctant to provide treatment due to the fear of legal
consequences, even though these penalties do not apply to the provision of legal abortions. The
Kenyan penal code currently lists self-inducing abortion or providing any other type of
"unlawful" abortion, as a crime punishable by a 714-year prison sentence. The churches in
Kenya are highly opposed to any laws that could allow the termination of pregnancy because
they consider abortion murder, in compliance with Article 26.

This would allow for less

unintentional births and the need for abortion would drop. to reduce the amount of induced
abortion in Kenya should be progressive with laws regarding the rights of woman, have a more
pro-choice nation.

A study conducted in Nakuru Provincial General Hospital found that complications from unsafe
abortion accounted for 25% of all maternal deaths recorded there in 2002. Approximately 60%
of gynecologic emergency hospital admissions are due to abortion complications. Women and
men interviewed in 20022003 stated they were aware of the strict abortion laws and this led
women to acquire unsafe procedures from untrained professionals. They believed that rich
women could obtain relatively safe abortions while poorer women were more likely to die from
unsafe procedures. There are 465,000 unsafe abortions annually and over 2,600 women in Kenya
die due to unsafe abortion practices annually. (guttmacher.org)

The abortions themselves are not the only problem in Kenya. Postabortion care is important, but
in Kenya very few medical professionals are trained to meet the needs of women who require
treatment. This is a problem because since there are few trained doctors, women must wait long
periods of time to receive treatment. Training more professionals to do this work would highly
decrease the maternal mortality rate in Kenya.

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El Salvador
Located on the Pacific Ocean, El Salvador is one of the five countries with a total ban on
abortion, along with Nicaragua, Chile, Honduras and Dominican Republic. Since 1998, the law
has allowed no exceptions - even if a woman is raped, her life is at risk or the fetus is severely
deformed. El Salvador has possibly one of the toughest anti-abortion laws in the world. The sideeffect is that women who suffer miscarriages or stillbirths are sometimes suspected of inducing
an abortion and can be jailed for murder.

Between 2000 and 2011, approximately 129 were convicted of murder and another 49 were
prosecuted because of abortions. Studies show that many of these women were poor, unmarried
and relatively uneducated. Yet, not a single criminal case originated from the private health
sector where thousands of abortions are believed to take place annually.

There are many cases where women are wrongly convicted of fetal murder:
In 2012, Maria Teresa Rivera suffered a miscarriage; she was sentenced to 40 years in jail for
aggravated murder. She had no pregnancy symptoms before sudden severe pain and
bleeding. Teresa was reported to police by the public hospital where she had sought
emergency help.

On October 30th, 2012, 19-year-old Glenda Xiomara Cruz was crippled by abdominal pain
and heavy bleeding. She rushed to the nearest hospital where she was informed of her
miscarriage. Four days later she was charged with aggravated murder - intentionally
murdering the 38-to-42 week foetus. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison because the
judge said "she should have saved the baby's life".

In 2013, Beatriz, a 22-year-old Salvadoran woman and mother of a toddler while suffering
from lupus and kidney failure and carrying an anencephalic fetus, was denied the right to an
abortion.

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The abortion laws in Latin America were inherited from colonial powers. While the Spanish and
Portuguese empires have advanced and the women have the right to safe and legal abortions,
Latin American woman are still suffering.

While feminist movements were taking place in Europe and North America during the 1960's
and 70's, Latin America was undergoing Civil wars and fighting Dictatorships, so reproductive
rights took a sideline to economic crises. But scholars and activists within the countries have
agreed it's time for a change and are trying to focus the nation on reproductive rights. The
problem that the Catholic Church has a lot of influence in both economics and politics in El
Salvador, this poses an issue because the church is often against abortions. Although it wasn't
until the 1800's the church began to truly oppose, when feminist movements came together to
claim the autonomy of women's bodies threatening the consensus of abortion being morally
wrong. Politicians in Latin America have sought after Catholic Churches and other anti-abortion
groups in order to strengthen their chances in office and keep harsh abortion laws.

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International Organizations
The UN Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) is one of the ways international organizations
are trying to get involved in the fight for woman's reproductive rights. This program's goal is to
introduce universal access to family planning and addresses issues in reproductive health. In
2010, the UN Secretary General unveiled a new global strategy for women's and children's
health. This package of guaranteed benefits is described to include "family-planning information
and services, antenatal, newborn and postnatal care, emergency obstetric and newborn care,
skilled care during childbirth at appropriate facilities, safe abortion services (when abortion is not
prohibited by law), and the prevention of HIV and other sexually transmitted infections."
However, because the strategy has not been negotiated by member countries, it is not viewed by
many as carrying the same authority as other UN documents or policies.

The International Alliance for Reproductive, Maternal and Newborn Health is a public-private
partnership that consists of the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), the United
Kingdom's Department for International Development (DFID), the Australian Agency for
International Development (AusAID) and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. They identify
its goals as reducing the unmet need for family planning, expanding skilled birth attendance and
facility-based deliveries, and increasing the number of women and newborns receiving quality
postnatal care. The alliance focuses on building effective partnerships to improve reproductive,
maternal and newborn health programs in ten of the world's high-need countries: Bangladesh,
Ethiopia, India, Indonesia, Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Pakistan, Tanzania, and Uganda. By 2015, the
Alliance contributed to three ambitious targets;

100 million additional users of modern methods of family planning

67 million more women giving birth with the help of a skilled attendant

80 million more infants exclusively breastfed through the age of six months

During the first year of the alliance, activities revolved around developing productive
partnerships among Alliance members, government partners, and civil society organizations
through joint planning, funding, problem-solving and learning. And, they have contributed
towards several notable accomplishments:

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In Bangladesh, Alliance members worked with partners to help the Ministry of Health
and Family Welfare develop a five-year plan for health sector programs.

In Uganda, DFID and USAID collaborated to increase support for private sector
partners providing family planning services.

In Pakistan, the Alliance helped to increase the number of trained community

midwives from 2,795 in 2010 to 7,764 in 2011.

Responding to evidence compiled and presented by the Alliance, Nigeria's Ministry

of Health eliminated fees for contraceptives in public-sector facilities and for the first
time pledged US$4 million to procure contraceptives through the United Nations
Population Fund.

As the organization continues, the reproductive and maternal health needs of adolescent girls will
be the main focus. They will continue efforts to improve access to quality, affordable
reproductive and maternal health supplies.

There are many Non-Governmental organizations involved with the hopes of improving
maternal health, but their efforts are much unorganized. For example: the White Ribbon Alliance
for Safe Motherhood, an international partnership of individuals and organizations who affirm
the use of family planning as a critical intervention to reduce maternal deaths in its publications.
They occasionally reference unsafe abortion as a cause of maternal mortality, but remain
noticeably silent in the public debate on the role of safe abortion in preventing maternal deaths
and disabilities.

The Post abortion Care Consortium was established in 1993, to raise awareness in the
reproductive health community about the need to address complications of unsafe abortion and
miscarriage. The founding vision was for the Consortium was to promote PAC as an effective
strategy for improving maternal health and to encourage other international donors and agencies
in the reproductive health and population field to address the issue of unsafe abortion in their
policies and programs. The PAC plays a critical role at the international level in advocating for
policy changes and increasing resources for services and the prevention of unsafe abortion. The
Consortium continues to inform the larger reproductive health community about health issues
related to unsafe abortion and strategies to confront this through PAC and to promote PAC as an

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effective strategy for addressing this global problem, especially in countries where abortion is
highly restricted.

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Canada
When proving abortion is a global issue one must provide examples from more than just
developing countries, unsafe abortion and abortion rights are a problem in North America.
Canada is fortunate to have an unsafe abortion rate of 0.1%, but it does have other abortion
issues. There are 70 Canadian organizations engaged in the Canadian Network for Maternal,
Newborn and Child Health, engaged in over a thousand regions of the world and are playing a
leading role in improving maternal, child and newborn health around the world. But there is still
controversy over the amount of help being provided to countries with high induced abortion
rates. Some countries say Canada needs to do more.

In 2013, Canadian Parliament announced;

The government will not fund safe abortion services in its overseas initiatives, as part of
Canada's contribution to the 2010 Muskoka Initiative on maternal and child health. In
addition, they also refuse to provide funding to organizations that would give women and
girls referrals to safe abortion services. Canada's refusal to fund abortion services, even in
cases of rape as a weapon of war and for young women and girls in early and forced
marriage. (Ashton)

This gives the impression that Canada does not care enough for maternal health in other
countries. Canadian Prime Minister Stephan Harper decided to give $3.5 million to help young
mothers and children in developing countries, rather than abortion-related issues because it
would cause a divide' between nations. Many developed countries strongly disagree with this
decision. Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton even stated "You cannot have maternal
health without reproductive health, which includes contraception and family planning and access
to legal, safe abortions."

That is not the only problem Canada has faced in regards to abortions. In 2013, Canada was
investigated regarding 491 babies that had reportedly died after being aborted between 2000 and
2009. According to Canada's Criminal Code, a child is guaranteed legal protection when he "has
completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother." This poses a big problem
for any hospitals responsible in the death of these babies, yet there have been no prosecutions in

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connection with these deaths. This defies Section 223(2) of the Criminal Code which states "A
person commits homicide when he causes injury to a child before or during its birth as a result of
which the child dies after becoming a human being." Therefore, anyone who involved an
abortion where the baby is born alive, but dies due to the interference is guilty of homicide.

Some would say people who advocate for this type of behaviour are truly pro-abortion and not
pro-choice.
the only defense that could possibly justify such a procedure would be to save the life of
the mother. But note well that in order to save the life of the mother a physician would only
need to end the pregnancy and that can happen, at this late stage of pregnancy, with either a
life, albeit premature, baby or a dead baby. If the terminated pregnancy results in a human
being dying after birth, it is because that death was the end goal; saving the life of the baby's
mother was only a pretext. (ERTELT)

This goes to show that just because unsafe abortion rates are low in Canada; doesn't mean
Canada doesn't have problems involving abortion and abortion laws.

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CASE STUDY: UNITED STATES

Since abortion laws are not an issue in Canada, I will prove this is a global issue by linking in
back to North America using the United States. In the United States, it is illegal to have an
abortion in 10 states with no exceptions. These states are: Idaho, Iowa, Utah, Louisiana, Kansas,
Virginia, Mississippi, South Dakota, Ohio, and Indiana.

On Wednesday April 1st, 2015, 33-year-old Purvi Patel was sentenced to 30-years in prison for
neglect with 10 years suspended and a further six years for feticide, which an Indiana judge said
would run concurrently. Patel had a miscarriage in 2013 and gave stillbirth in her bathroom. The
jury did not believe this story and was convinced she bought abortion drugs online, even though
her toxicology report was clean. Patel is the second woman to be charged with feticide in the US,
but the first to receive a prison sentence. She was prosecuted under state laws that were intended
at targeting illegal abortion providers. Lynn Paltrow, the executive director of the National
Advocates for Pregnant Women (NAPW), said she was deeply disappointed by the outcome, and
also stated "These feticide' laws are being used to punish the pregnant women they purport to
protect, and will only discourage those who need medical care from seeking help, putting women
and their babies at greater risk This means that a woman who buys abortion pills online could
be incarcerated. Women need access to high-quality reproductive health care services and
support. In the 21st century, their personal decisions about whether to continue or end a
pregnancy do not belong in the criminal law."

There may be a problem with the legality of abortions in the United States, but it is not the only
concern. As many as 5,000 American women died annually as a direct result of unsafe abortions.
Not nearly as many as in the developing world but it's enough to be a relevant problem in
Western society.

F e d e r | 23

Solutions
Unsafe abortion is an easily reducible issue. There are many ways that it can be prevented before
there is a need for one and there are many safe ways to abort. However, this is only possible
when abortions are legal within a country. That should be solution number one, legalize
abortions, or decrease restrictions on abortions. Statistics show that countries with legalized
abortions showed a high decrease in maternal deaths caused by unsafe abortions. For example: in
south Africa six years after liberalizing abortion laws, deaths due to unsafe abortion dropped by
at least 50% and the number and severity of post-abortion complications fell dramatically as
well. There is a similar situation in Nepal according to Nepalese government hospitals records,
after abortion was legalized in 2004, the number of women admitted for complications of unsafe
abortion and pregnancy-related deaths in Nepal dramatically declined.

According to the International Women's Health Program there are many ways to reduce the
number of unsafe abortions with countries. They are as follows;

Access to Family Planning: A logical first step is helping women access the means to
control their fertility. Access to family planning, including information, contraception
and other reproductive health supplies are necessary to ensure that every child is a wanted
child.

Training Health Professionals: Train health professionals to provide abortions, as well

as postabortal care. This includes the complications that may arise from unsafe abortion
as well as the provision of the necessary supplies.

Documentation: Recording incidences of unsafe abortion and documenting the negative

impacts through techniques such as maternal death audits can help encourage evidencebased responses on the part of governments and policy makers.

Encourage Research-Based Policy and Programming: The evidence tells us that

regardless of legal provision women will seek abortions. It is important for actions and
policies in the name of women's health reflect the evidence.

F e d e r | 24

Abortion is Between a Woman and her Doctor: Advocate to make abortion a private
issue between a woman and her doctor, free from state interference.

Protect Health Care Providers: Advocate to enact and develop policies and laws that
protect health care workers who provide abortions or postabortal care.

Advocate: Lobbying governments and decision makers for solutions to the problem of
unsafe abortion applies important social pressure, preventing the issue from remaining
unpublicized.

A Sexual and Reproductive Rights Approach: Sexual and reproductive rights are
human rights and deserve priority. Health care providers have a responsibility to care for
women regardless of her personal choices and as such are required to provide postabortal
care.

Access for Vulnerable Populations: Considering poor women are most severely
impacted by unsafe abortion, efforts should be made to subsidize the cost of the
procedure and treatment of complications when an unsafe abortion has been induced
when it cannot be freely provided.

Another way to decrease the amount of maternal deaths due to abortions would be to use safe
abortion methods. The two most common safe abortion methods are to use the pill which will
cause a miscarriage and the female will bleed for 9-14 days following. The pill has a 97%
success rate. The other option is the surgical removal which will use a vacuum aspirator to empty
the woman's uterus. This will cause slight pain and bleeding for 6-8 weeks, it is 99% successful.

F e d e r | 25

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