Abortion Not Effective in Reducing Maternal Mortality     2/24/2006
By Colleen Raezler

U.N. data supports pro-life argument.

Pro-abortion activists frequently argue that abortion reduces the maternal mortality rate worldwide. However, a newly published United Nations (U.N.) report refutes this claim.

Data found in the U.N. Population Division report The World Mortality Report: 2005 led to a comparison of maternal mortality rates in Ireland, Poland, Russia and the United States, all of which have different levels of abortion restrictions. The data shows that those countries where abortions are performed most freely also have higher rates of maternal death. This is the opposite of claims by international abortion supporters.

In fact, Russia, where abortion has no restrictions, has the highest rate of maternal mortality: 67 deaths for every 100,000 births. The United States, where abortion has almost no restrictions and a better standard of health care, has a maternal mortality rate of 17 deaths for every 100,000 births.

In comparison, Ireland, which has strong restrictions on abortion and comparable health care standards to the United States, has a maternal mortality rate of five deaths for every 100,000 births. Poland, which also strictly limits abortion, has a maternal mortality rate of 13 deaths for every 100,000 births.

This is not the first time U.N. data has illustrated that abortion is not effective in reducing maternal mortality.

In a U.N. report titled Maternal Mortality Update 2004: Delivering Into Good Hands, the Catholic Family & Human Rights Institute (C-FAM) found that researchers acknowledged that “almost all maternal mortality is avoidable because all five of the most life-threatening complications can be treated by a professional health worker.” The U.N. has identified the following as the five “most life-threatening complications”: hemorrhaging, obstructed labor, infection, eclampsia or seizures, and complications from abortion.

It would seem reasonable to focus on preventing and treating these complications to most effectively prevent mothers’ pregnancy-related deaths. However, the main focus of U.N. policies to reduce maternal mortality is still on the “prevention of unwanted pregnancies.” Each action resolution relating to this topic proposed in the U.N. Population Fund’s (UNFPA) International Conference on Population Development’s Programme of Action contains a phrase relating to family planning education and prevention of pregnancy.

“When the concept of population control went out of favor due to the force, coercion and inherent racism that goes along with such programs, activists changed their theme to ‘promoting rights for women’ and ‘reducing maternal mortality,” said Wendy Wright, president of Concerned Women for America (CWA). “These facts help to expose that policies of pushing abortion and ‘reproductive rights’ are not successful in promoting good health among women. This leads us to believe that they are motivated primarily to reduce the number of people that exist rather than the claimed goal of increasing rights for women,”

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