Issues in focus: Abortion
Unsafe abortion refers to the termination of an unintended pregnancy either by persons lacking the necessary skills or in an environment lacking the minimal medical standards, or both.
Every eight minutes a woman dies somewhere in a developing country due to complications from an unsafe abortion. She most likely had little money or support to obtain safe services. She probably first tried to induce a termination herself. Failing that she would have turned to an unskilled, but relatively inexpensive, provider. Unsafe abortion accounts for an estimated 13% of maternal deaths. It leaves many more women unwell and disabled.
The cost of unsafe abortion-related ill-health and death was the subject of a technical meeting held at the Institute of Development Studies (UK) on 18 and 19 April 2007. It was funded by the Hewlett Foundation and brought together experts on unsafe abortion and economists specialising in costing methods. The meeting reviewed recent work estimating the cost of unsafe abortion to the health sector. Participants also discussed the economic costs to health systems, individuals and households, and the links between unsafe abortion and poverty.
Dr Hilary Standing, Director of Realising Rights was one of the contributors to the IDS World Health Day podcast, highlighting the issue of unsafe abortion. 
Publications
Realising Rights Factsheet Number 2, 2008, Combating unsafe abortion is key to improving maternal health
ID21 Focus, 2007, The health dangers of unsafe abortion
Abortion in the news
Unsafe abortion has had a high profile in the UK at the beginning of 2008 due to proposed changes to domestic legislation. A Realising Rights' letter to the Guardian Editor focussed on the international situation. This letter to the Guardian on unsafe abortion was picked up by IDS's local paper the Evening Argus.
Our letter to 'The Economist' also picked up on this issue.
Abortion Events
Realising Rights organised a panel session at the Marie Stopes International Global Safe Abortion Conference in London 23 & 24 October 2007. Click here for outline of panel and biographies of participants.
Listen to the interview about unsafe abortion on Network Africa, BBC World Service by Reproductive Health and Rights Alliance (RHRA), Kenya partipants in the Realising Rights panel. 
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