WHO calls for facilitating women’s access to abortion
The World Health Organization believes that the restrictions do not reduce the number of abortions but instead increase the risks.
Many countries, especially in Latin America, drastically limit the right to abortion, reserving it for situations where the health of the mother is in danger. (illustrative image)
AFP
The World Health Organization (WHO) called on Wednesday to facilitate women’s access to abortion as much as possible, saying the restrictions do not reduce the number of abortions but increase the number of them. risks.
“We recommend that women and girls can access abortion and family planning services when they need them,” Craig Lissner, a WHO official, said in a statement. The UN agency speaks as it has revised all of its health recommendations regarding abortion procedures and what surrounds them: advice, follow-up…
If these recommendations are broad and now include, for example, an incentive to develop teleconsultations for orientation, they are above all an opportunity for the WHO to plead for fewer restrictions on abortion. Many countries drastically limit the right to abortion, reserving it for situations where the health of the mother is in danger. Some, like El Salvador, even prohibit it entirely.
“Unnecessary restrictions
The fears of abortion access advocates have recently focused on the United States, where several states have adopted restrictive measures and where the Supreme Court seems ready to reverse the idea that abortion constitutes an unassailable right. .
The WHO recommends “removing unnecessary restrictions from a medical point of view”, citing “criminalization, mandatory waiting times, imposing the agreement of other people – spouses or family – or institutions, and prohibiting abortion beyond a certain stage of pregnancy”.
These types of restrictions are not accompanied by a drop in the number of abortions, underlines the WHO, which cites a study published in 2020 in the Lancet Global Health. On the contrary, “the restrictions will especially push women and young girls to resort to risky interventions”, warns the WHO.
By resorting to illegal abortions, women therefore take risks for their health, while abortions carried out according to the rules are extremely safe, according to the WHO. The restrictions therefore run the risk of “stigma and medical complications”, insists the agency.
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