South Africa: Backstreet abortions: Illegal, dingy clinics advertise ‘safe … pain free’ procedures

Backstreet abortions: Illegal, dingy clinics advertise ‘safe ... pain free’ procedures

ILLEGAL abortions for women who are as far as six months pregnant are just a text message away, a news.com.au investigation has revealed.
Megan Palin
October 7, 2017

“SAFE abortions — pain free,” one flyer stuck to a tin shack reads.

The advertisement includes a phone number and guarantees “same day” procedures.

It’s one of hundreds like it plastered around the cities and shanty towns of South Africa, where the majority of citizens live below the poverty line.

Continued at source: http://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/backstreet-abortions-illegal-dingy-clinics-advertise-safe-pain-free-procedures/news-story/66b06d317fab4069fe469dc678dd01f1

Nearly Half Of All Abortions Unsafe In Developing Countries

Nearly Half Of All Abortions Unsafe In Developing Countries

October 3, 2017
Susan Brink

Of the 56 million annual abortions performed around the world, nearly half, or 25 million, posed some threat to the health or life of the woman. The vast majority of unsafe abortions – 97 percent — were performed in developing countries in Africa, Asia and Latin America.

And about half of those abortions in poor countries are unsafe, compared with just 12.5 percent in wealthy countries, according to a report in last week's issue of The Lancet, the British medical journal.

Gilda Sedgh, an author of the paper, is a scientist at the Guttmacher Institute, a sexual and reproductive rights research organization. We talked with her about the problem of unsafe abortions in low-income countries. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Continued at source: http://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2017/10/03/555317349/nearly-half-of-all-abortions-unsafe-in-developing-countries

New Study Highlights Demographics of Women Who Have Abortions in 28 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

New Study Highlights Demographics of Women Who Have Abortions in 28 Low- and Middle-Income Countries

May 10, 2017, News Release

Demographic characteristics of women who obtain abortions vary widely by country and region, according to an article recently published in PLOS ONE, “Characteristics of Women Obtaining Induced Abortions in Selected Low- and Middle-Income Countries,” by Guttmacher Institute researchers Dr. Sophia Chae and colleagues. Their work updates a previous study published in 1999 and measures characteristics such as abortion patients’ age, marital status, number of previous births, wealth, education, and urban or rural residence.

The researchers analyzed data collected from 2002 to 2014 in 28 low- and middle-income countries—five in Africa, 13 in Asia, eight in Europe, and two in Latin America and the Caribbean. Abortion is legally and severely restricted in approximately half of the countries studied, and in many others, safe abortion services are not easily accessible despite being legal.

Continued at source: Guttmacher Institute: https://www.guttmacher.org/news-release/2017/new-study-highlights-demographics-women-who-have-abortions-28-low-and-middle