Around 68,000 women die worldwide due to unsafe abortions, that are without doctors or sometimes with no medical experience every year. That is nearly five times the population of Hershey.  

Women deserve to have the universal right to an abortion.

According to a National Institutes of Health journal “Reviews in Obstetrics and Gynecology,” those unnecessary deaths are due to unsafe abortions. Restricted abortion laws are why women choose unsafe abortions.

In Romania, women had the right to choose abortations for any reason until 1966. In 1960, abortion mortality ratio was 20 per 100,000 live births. In 1966, new restrictions on abortion were placed, and by 1989, the abortion mortality ratio had reached 148 per 100,00 live births.

The level of restriction often varies by place. Some countries allow abortions if the mother’s life is in danger or to preserve mental health. If countries modified their abortion laws, all women could have safe abortions.

Making abortion laws more restricting can cause women who feel trapped to turn towards illegal abortions, and these abortions cause more women to die. If a woman cannot have an abortion due to strict laws, she can feel stuck and overwhelmed to the point of turning to an illegal abortion.

“Over the past 35 years, approximately half of pregnancies in the United States were unintended. Of these, about 40% were terminated by induced abortion, with an estimated 1.1 million legal induced abortions performed in the United States in 2011,” said American College of Obstericians and Gynecologists (ACOG) journal, “Obstetrics & Gynecology.”

ACOG is a professional membership organization dedicated to the improvement of womens’ health. The members of ACOG are board-certified ob-gyns; their professions are only focused on the practice of gynecology or obstetrics.

If a women does not want to have an illegal abortion, she can end up with an unwanted baby can end in abandonment or abuse. Women having the right to choose can allow their child to have a better future. It can help to limit the amount of neglect in young children.

In 35 years, 40% of unintended pregnancies ended in abortion. This has helped many women in the United States.

 If these women were not able to have abortions, they could have had an unwanted and possibly neglected baby.

“Nearly half of abortion patients in the United States are poor and another 26% are low income.” according to “Perspectives on Sexual and Reproductive Health” published by Guttmacher Institute.

Lacking financial stability is a large factor in deciding to have an abortion. If a family does not have the nessecary income to support a child, then having an abortion may be their only option. Having the right to decide can allow a woman or family to not struggle financially.

Those who wish to correct this issue can act by contacting their federal or state representatives, or by signing this petition in order to voice their opinions on restrictive abortion laws.