A report produced by Human Rights Watch, published this week, concludes that 40% of all pregnancies in Argentina end in abortion. This would place Argentina's abortion rate at about double the global average of 20%, according to the UN.
This would almost double the rate for the US of 22%. However, Europe continues to hold the distinction of having the world’s highest abortion rate.
According to a 2003 study by the British-based The Lancet, “There were an estimated 205 million pregnancies (livebirths, spontaneous miscarriages, stillbirths, and induced abortions) worldwide in 2003, of which about 20% ended in induced abortion. In eastern Europe, almost half of all pregnancies ended in induced abortion, whereas in northern America, one in five pregnancies ended in abortion. Even in regions where small proportions of pregnancies end in induced abortion, such as middle and western Africa, about one in ten pregnancies were terminated.”
The Human Rights Watch study concludes that the abortion rate in Argentina is due to a lack of sufficient access to healthcare and contraceptives for women and girls.
The study asserts, “Until 1985 the sale and use of contraception was entirely prohibited in the country, and politicians and even medical service providers still justify actions that curtail women’s human rights by referring to a century-old maxim, ‘to populate is to govern.’”
Abortion remains illegal in Argentina, except in the case of rape. Moreover, according to Human Rights Watch, approximately 20% of maternal deaths in Argentina are related to illegally performed abortions.
Sources: http://www.hrw.org/en/reports/2010/08/10/illusions-care-0
http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(07)61575-X/fulltext
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