Anti-abortion stance is indefensible

In the Dominican Republic last month, a pregnant teenager with leukaemia had her chemotherapy delayed because doctors feared the treatment could terminate her pregnancy and therefore violate the nation's strict anti-abortion law. Chemotherapy was eventually begun, but not before attention had again been focused on the rigidity of many developing countries' abortion laws.

Abortion receives extensive media coverage in developed countries, especially in the US. But much less attention is given to the 86per cent of all abortions that occur in the developing world. Although a majority of countries in Africa and Latin America have laws prohibiting abortion in most circumstances, they do not prevent high abortion rates. In Africa, there are 29 abortions per 1,000 women, and 32 per 1,000 in Latin America. The comparable figure for Western Europe, where abortion is generally permitted, is 12.

According to the World Health Organisation, unsafe abortions lead to the death of 47,000 women every year, with almost all occurring in developing countries. A further 5 million women are injured each year, sometimes permanently.

Almost all of these deaths and injuries could be prevented, the WHO says, by meeting the need for sex education and information about family planning and contraception, and by providing safe, legal induced abortion, as well as follow-up care. Some 220 million women in the developing world say they want to prevent pregnancy, but lack either knowledge of, or access to, effective contraception.

That is a huge tragedy for individuals and for the future of our already very heavily populated planet.

Opponents will point out that abortion kills a unique, living human individual. That claim is difficult to deny.