Legal Induced Abortions Safer Than Childbirth, New Study Finds Washington D.C. Jan. 26 -Legal induced abortions in the United States are "markedly safer" than childbirth, according to a new comparative study published in the February issue of Obstetrics & Gynecology. The comparative analysis found that the risk of death associated with childbirth is about 14 times higher than for legal induced abortions - 0.6 deaths per 100,000 abortions, compared to 8.8 deaths per 100,000 live births. Pregnancy-related complications and illness are also much more common for childbirth than for abortion, it said.
"Since the early 1970s, the public health evidence has been clear and incontrovertible: induced abortion is safer than childbirth," noted the study that is co-authored by Dr. Elizabeth G. Raymond of the
Gynuity Health Projects in New York and Dr. David A. Grimes of the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
Information from the Guttmacher Institute indicates that roughly half of the states have laws that now require that women seeking abortions must be given detailed, specific written or verbal information about potential risks from the procedure.
For example, a mandatory 23-page pamphlet given to pregnant women seeking abortions in Texas, titled "A Woman's Right to Know," lists 11 or 12 potential complications from abortion procedures and only six possible complications from vaginal delivery and eight for cesarean sections. Some of the statistics are often expressed in terms that are difficult to understand when given as fractions rather than comparisons of deaths per 100,000 events, the study continued.
"Laws that compel exposure of women to such biased material thwart informed choice and contravene the ethical principle of autonomy," the piece concluded. "Moreover, they put clinicians in the untenable position of having to be complicit in misleading their patients."
The authors examined existing reports and research data on maternal deaths and illnesses related to legal induced abortions and childbirth in the United States from 1998 to 2005. They found that the relative safety of abortion has increased greatly since it was legalized in 1973, but even in the 1970s it was about seven times safer than childbirth.
They suggested several reasons for the safety difference. Pregnancies ending in abortion are shorter than those ending in childbirth, so there is less time for complications to develop. Many complications like hypertension and abnormal placentas show up only late in pregnancy, and early abortion avoids those hazards. A third of births occur by cesarean delivery, which has substantial risk of complications and death.
In fact, the authors said, this study may actually under-state the dangers of pregnancy and over-estimate the dangers of abortion in part because women who undergo abortion appear to be at higher risk than women who opt for delivery.
The authors concluded, "The data are clear -- abortion is safer than childbirth. Every woman deserves factual medical information whenever she is facing a decision about a pregnancy."
For interviews with the co-authors, contact Andrea Camp at: 202-326-8700 or cell: 443-851-1462; andreacamp@comcast.net.
For a full copy of the article, contact the communications office of the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) at 202-484-3321 or email: communications@acog.org.
A copy of the abstract is on the ACOG website, http://www.greenjournal.org /.
House Democrats Defend UNFPA WASHINGTON DC, Nov. 3 � A group of 122 House Democrats fought back today against what they called �a systematic and baseless campaign of misinformation� from House Republicans about UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
In an open letter to President Obama, the group urged him to reaffirm U.S. support for the agency and for its programs supporting comprehensive reproductive health care in more than 150 countries worldwide. It gave a point-by-point rebuttal of charges against UNFPA that House Republicans made in an Oct. 7 letter to Obama, which the Democrats said �misrepresented and distorted a number of facts� about UNFPA.
�It is time for the allegations and falsehoods to come to an end,� the letter said. �We want to ensure the public record accurately reflects the work of UNFPA.�
The U.S. contribution in FY 2010 to UNFPA was $40 million, which the House Republican majority is seeking to cut to zero. The Democrats said that could lead to greater maternal deaths, unplanned pregnancies and HIV/AIDS infections.
Valerie DeFillipo, president of Americans for UNFPA, thanked the legislators for their letter, saying it �reflects the values that American voters and women around the world count on them to support and address.�
The Crowley-led congressional letter was released on the same day Nicholas Kristof wrote in The New York Times on the life-saving importance of birth control in �The Birth Control Solution.� He addresses the bi-partisan roots of family planning, and poignantly draws attention to real examples, solutions and the impact of voluntary family planning, as well as the critical role of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
In Kristof�s article he asserts, �Contraception already prevents 112 million abortions a year, by U.N. estimates. The United Nations Population Fund is a b�te noire for conservatives, but its promotion of contraception means that it may have reduced abortions more than any organization in the world.�
For more information contact:
Angeline Martyn, Director of Communications & Marketing, Americans for UNFPA
+1 646-649-9127, amartyn@americansforunfpa.org
Top Internet Sites on 7 Billion Milestone New York, Oct. 27 - World population will reach 7 billion people next week on October 31. This is a major milestone that offers people opportunities for action to create a better future, as well as many challenges, and the Internet has risen to the occasion.
Here are some interesting websites that explore different aspects of the situation.
www.7billionactions.com - In a world of seven billion and counting, we must all count on each other to help make the world a better place. Here viewers can share their own story of their work or someone else's to make a difference in communities around the world by submitting a film, remixing the 7 Billion Actions song, and joining the conversation on Twitter at #7Billion. Included is http://7billionactions.tumblr.com/ - a 7 Billion Actions Countdown site until Oct. 31, the Day of 7 Billion, with each day dedicated to a different topic. People can watch the videos and pick one to join the debate: what millions of young people in China and India really think; population growth in paradise; the identity of the newborn 7 billionth person; how Sudan is changing today; the environmental impact of population growth; the role of statistics in population studies; and many more.
http://www.populationaction.org/Articles/Whats_Your_Number/Summary.php - What's YOUR number as earth's population hits 7 billion? People can see the Population Action International fast moving website clicker turning toward seven billion. People add their birthdate to see where they fit into the total to put themselves on the map! Then see an interactive map on the way population growth relates to climate change.
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/7-billion - National Geographic magazine is running a special yearlong online series on population issues, with videos and its usual astonishing photos. Can we feed 7 billion of us? Is there enough for everyone? What influences women to have fewer children? Are there too many people? Are we in the "Age of Man"? How will we cope with changing climate? People can join the discussion on these issues and more.
http://www.prb.org/Publications/Datasheets/2011/world-population-data-sheet/video-7-billion.aspx - The Population Reference Bureau has a three-minute video, 7 Billion and Counting, along with data sheets, interactive maps and discussions.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/world/india-leads-push-to-7-billion/ - The Washington Post has a series of articles with graphs and charts about statistics, consumption trends and more in a world of 7 billion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/04/world/04population.html - The New York Times focused on population predictions for the century's end in this piece of its ongoing series on the world of 7 billion. In an earlier piece it looked at the aging of the global population. http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/30/world/30population.html
For More Information Contact:
Kathy Bonk, +1 202-326-6767, kbonk@ccmc.org
Andrea Sybinsky, +1 202-326-8711, asybinsky@ccmc.org
New UNFPA Report to Explain Trends Behind World of 7 Billion New York, Oct. 25 – As Earth’s population reaches 7 billion this week, urgent policy decisions will determine whether we can all live together on a healthy planet in the future, according to a report to be released tomorrow by UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund.
The report, The State of World Population 2011: People and possibilities in a world of 7 billion, will explain the trends behind the numbers and make the case for greater investment to meet the needs of everyone, especially girls and women, for education and family planning. With a record number of young people just entering their prime reproductive years, the individual decisions they make about bearing children will determine whether human population rises to 10 billion or 16 billion by the end of the century.
Critical trends in population growth include longer lifespans (68 years, compared to 48 in 1950); ageing (people over 80 are the fastest-growing age group); urbanization (more than half the world’s people now live in cities, but two out of three will by 2050); and climate change that is affecting rainfall, crop yields, wildlife habitat and human migration patterns.
The averages hide great disparities. Of the 78 million people being added to the global population every year, more than 97 out of every 100 new world citizens are in developing countries that are least able to meet their people’s needs. Meanwhile, most industrialized countries are losing population size, but each of their people consumes an outsize share of earth’s resources compared to those in low-income nations. And wide disparities also exist within as well as among nations.
The report is to be released simultaneously in some 130 cities and available in Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish.
For More Information Contact:
Omar Gharzeddine, +1 212 297 5028, gharzeddine@unfpa.org
Countdown to a 7 Billion World Population The milestone of 7 billion – projected to be reached on October 31, 2011 – will be marked by achievements, setbacks and paradoxes according to a soon-to-be-released UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund report, The State of World Population 2011. Journalists may view the report, embargoed until October 26, in advance by registering here.
UNFPA is taking the lead in the United Nations observations of the occasion, which will include worldwide ceremonies and demographic portraits of individual countries at this historic juncture. The theme of the events is Seven Billion People – Counting on Each Other, and it has a cutting-edge website to engage people around the world: www.7billionactions.org.
Seven areas of focus have been outlined for the observations by UNFPA offices serving about 150 countries. The areas of focus include the following topics with links to a one-page background on each:
Poverty and Inequality: Breaking the Cycle
Reducing poverty and inequality also slows population growth.
Women and Girls: Empowerment and Progress
Unleashing the power of women and girls will accelerate progress on all fronts.
Young People: Forging the Future
Energetic and open to new technologies, history’s largest and most interconnected population of young people is transforming global politics and culture.
Reproductive Health and Rights: The Facts of Life
Ensuring that every child is wanted and every childbirth safe leads to smaller and stronger families.
Environment: Healthy Planet, Healthy People
All 7 billion of us, and those who will follow, depend on the health of our planet.
Ageing: An Unprecedented Challenge
Lower fertility and longer lives add up to a new challenge worldwide: ageing populations.
Urbanization: Planning for Growth
The next two billion people will live in cities, so we need to plan for them now.
For More Information Contact:
Omar Gharzeddine, +1 212 297 5028, gharzeddine@unfpa.org
Global Gag Rule Raised Abortion Rates, Study Finds GENEVA, Sep. 30 -- Lowering abortion rates was the goal of a federal policy requiring nonprofits to stop talking about abortion services or promoting abortion rights, but according to a new report from the World Health Organization, the result of the “global gag rule” in Africa was just the opposite: abortion rates rose.
Stanford University researchers analyzed demographic and health surveys of 20 African nations for the years 2001 to 2008, when the Bush administration restored the Reagan-era “Mexico City policy” that President Clinton had overturned. It barred federal funds to all non-governmental organizations operating abroad that either provided abortion services, counseled women on abortion or advocated more liberal abortion laws.
As a result, the researchers found, groups like the International Planned Parenthood Federation had to close clinics and scale back their programs in the studied countries. In many poor African countries, such clinics are often the primary providers of women’s basic health care, including family planning services. Sampling 260,000 women of childbearing age, the researchers found that unplanned pregnancies rose in all those countries, and so did abortions, more than doubling in places where U.S. support for NGOs was cut the most.
“We had no idea what the effect would look like,” said researcher Eran Bendavid. “What we found surprised us: this policy seems to have unintended consequences.”
The loss of access to contraceptives led women to seek abortions as a form of birth control, argued Bendavid and the other researchers, Grant Miller and Patrick Avila, in their study that was published in the World Health Bulletin [link]. But abortion is illegal in most of the countries examined, so women injured in unsafe illegal abortion attempts had fewer places to go to seek treatment, and many more died.
“This evidence confirms what we have seen on the ground,” said Latanya Mapp Frett, vice president for global affairs at Planned Parenthood Federation of America. “In reality the [gag rule] policy leads to more unintended pregnancies, more unsafe abortions and more women dying from completely preventable causes.”
“The analysis shows that the stakes in this issue transcend political ideology,” Bendavid said. “Effective foreign policy must now consider the implications for maternal health in places where abortion is unsafe.”
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