CONTENTS
HIGHLIGHTS
September, 1996 |
While the statistical relationships among levels of unmet need, levels of abortion, and contraceptive prevalence are not clear, the many induced abortions worldwide—estimated at a minimum of 45 million each year, or nearly one abortion for every three live births (219)—are powerful evidence that millions of women want to control their fertility but have not used effective contraception. In many developing countries abortion remains a common way for women to control their fertility (191, 221). Tomas Frejka has estimated that during the late 1980s in developing countries abortions averted a substantial share of all potential births—between 21% and 28% of all births in Latin America; 22% in East Asia; between 11% and 23% in South and Southeast Asia; and between 3% and 32% in Africa (75). Abortion statistics have been described as indicating the "ultimate unmet need for family planning" (44). Only a minority of women having abortions have used effective contraception. For example, in Thailand fewer than 30% of women hospitalized for abortion complications had ever used a modern contraceptive method (107). In Vietnam only 20% to 30% of women undergoing legal abortions had ever used modern contraception (80). In Zambia only 27% of women requesting legal abortions had ever used modern contraception, and only 12% of women treated for complications of unsafe abortions had ever used contraception (113). While not all women who have had abortions would use contraception, many would be likely to do so. For example, in Nigeria among women hospitalized for abortion complications, only 10% had ever used contraception, but 45% said that they wanted to do so (144). In Bolivia only 7% of women hospitalized for abortion complications had ever used contraception, but 77% said that they wanted to do so (12). |