Newsflash of the Century! (Or, abortion rates don't go down even when the procedure is outlawed.)

In a recently released study examining abortion trends between 1995-2003, it has been found that all nations, rich and poor, have virtually equal abortion rates, and that half of those taking place worldwide are unsafe due illegal status or inadequate health-care. While the number of abortions did dip from 46 million to approximately 42 million in 1995 and 2003, respectively, there was absolutely no change in the rate of unsafe/illegal abortions. 97 percent of these take place in developing countries, where not only is abortion often outlawed, women have extremely limited access to contraceptives, let alone regular health-care, reproductive or otherwise.

This confirms what we've all been saying all along: abortion will not stop if outlawed. Women have been aborting and using contraceptives for thousands of years; it is a fundamental right, and one millions of women WILL take many risks to obtain. For many women, the thought or process of having a child they do not want or cannot care for is JUST like giving up their life, so even when aware of the dire risks of unsafe abortions, it is sadly not a deterrent to what could possibly lead to certain death. We must give more thought to empowering women worldwide with better access to contraceptives and health-care as a first line of defense; there's relatively few people on either side of the abortion debate that could agree that abortion replaces or should replace first-line pregnancy prevention. Furthering causes associated with assault prevention, contraceptive access, and health education ALONE can drive abortion rates down, of both the safe and unsafe type.

The US itself refuses to donate any money to developing countries if it goes towards health services associated with abortion. Surely, an administration that associates itself with the pro-life movement would stand in sharp contest to conditions that not only kill tens of thousands of women worldwide, but the fetuses that such policies fail to protect and even go so far as to prevent the sterile, ethical termination of?

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20071012/ap_on_he_me/global_abortion_4