Legalising abortion ‘increases safety, not numbers’

Liberalising abortion laws causes no increase in the number of abortions carried out, a new report shows.

The Abortion Worldwide 2017 report shows that abortion rates are in fact slightly higher in countries where it is prohibited or highly restricted than in countries where it is widely available, with a rate of 37 per 1,000 women in the former and 34 in the latter.

“Legal restrictions do not eliminate abortion,” says the report. “Rather, they increase the likelihood that abortions will be done unsafely.”