Abortions may be legal in India, but 60% are unsafe: Study

NEW DELHI: Despite abortions being legal for the last 46 years, almost 60% of procedures in India are unsafe — a ratio much closer to that in countries where abortion is illegal. This discrepancy is primarily because of lack of access to hospital facilities, awareness and stigma around abortion, shows the latest study published in the international medical journal Lancet.

The study, conducted by WHO along with Guttmacher Institute, shows that 62 countries with highly restrictive abortion laws have 75% of all unsafe abortions compared to 13% in the 57 countries where legal abortion is available on demand. However, in India, the number of unsafe abortions continues to be drastically high, reflecting a huge disparity when compared with other countries where abortion is legal.

97% of unsafe abortions in developing nations

Experts say the government’s proposal to expand the provider base by including trained healthcare workers, midwives and Ayush doctors will help reduce unsafe abortions in India.

“To reverse this, India must take major policy and programmatic action. The government needs to urgently take forward the proposed amendments to the MTP Act.

Without the expansion of provider base proposed in the amendments, safe abortion will never be a reality for women in rural remote areas of the country,” Ipas Development Foundation executive director Vinoj Manning said.

Findings of the study show a total of 55.7 million abortions occurred worldwide each year between 2010 and 2014. Of this, 30.6 million were estimated safe whereas 17.1 million were less safe and eight million were least safe.

Thus, 25.1 million abortions each year between 2010 and 2014 were unsafe, with 24.3 million (97%) of these in developing countries.

According to Sushila Singh of Guttmacher Institute, who was also one of the researchers of the study, the average unsafe abortions in the south central Asia region, which includes countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal and India, was as high as 58%.

“Though the situation in India has improved in the last few years, the percentage of unsafe abortions continues to be very high in India. Currently, we do not have India-specific abortion estimates but we are conducting a study especially to determine the magnitude of unsafe abortions in the country and its impact on maternal health,” Singh said.