by Maria Cendejas

A new study found that abortion rates were higher in countries where it's illegal and half of all the abortions worldwide were unsafe, according to times.

Experts couldn’t say more liberal laws would lead to fewer procedures, but did say good access to birth control in those countries would result in fewer unwanted pregnancies.

From 2003-2008, the global abortion rate remained unchanged, at about 28 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15-44.  The study found  abortions totaled about 43.8 million worldwide.

In 2008, about 47,000 women died from unsafe abortions, and 8.5 million other women had serious medical complications. 

The study’s lead author Gilda Sedgh is a senior researcher at the U.S. based Guttmacher Institute, designated by the World Health Organization as an official Collaborating Center for Reproductive Health.  Sedgh said, “An abortion is actually a very simple and safe procedure. All of these deaths and complications are easily avoidable.”

Sedgh and her colleagues determined that the proportion of unsafe abortions went up from 44% in 1995 to 49% in 2008. Sedgh recognized it was difficult to get an accurate number for unsafe abortions and described their estimates as basic.

The data sources they used included official statistics, national surveys, and hospital records. And for any unreported abortions, they made adjustments and relied on information from other kinds of studies and surveys on women.

On Thursday, the research was published in the journal The Lancet. 

In Western Europe, abortion rates were at the lowest at 12 per 1,000 and in Eastern Europe abortion rates were in the highest at 43 per 1,000 and the abortion rate in North America was at 19 per 1,000. 

Sedgh said they found a link between the high abortion rates and regions with countries that have more restrictive legislation, like Latin America and Africa. They also found that 95-97% of abortions in those regions were unsafe.

The authors defined unsafe abortion as any procedure done by people lacking needed skills or in places that don’t meet minimal medical standards. 

“Some women in Africa resort to using broken soda bottles or taking strong doses of medicines or herbal drugs to induce abortions,” said Sedgh.

The experts said it would make a big difference if they provided more birth control options for women in poor countries.

Dana Hovig, a CEO of Marie Stopes International, a family planning organization said, “Wherever we have made better contraception available in the countries where we work, hundreds of women will walk hours to get it.”