How Many Women Die From Illegal Abortions Today?

[ThomWV]

With the increased difficulty in obtaining a legal abortion these days it would see logical to expect that true on-demand abortions are being performed illegally. By that I mean they are being performed outside of the the auspices of state regulated medical practice. Back alley modern times - whatever that might be.

I wonder if anyone is keeping track of how many of our young women are being butchered these days, just like in the old days.

[GRLMGC]

1. I'm sure there are hundreds of women

from other countries where abortion is completely illegal. It's important not to forget them

[babylonsister]

2. No one yet, as it's still legal, but stand by. Back to the 60s! nt

[ThomWV]

4. I Don't Mean Abortions That Are Being Performed Legally

I mean that at this very moment in places where because of local law, or insurance, or for whatever reason, abortions are so difficult to obtain that those in need resort to abortions outside of the medical community.

Get it, I mean the last room on the left in the cheapest motel you can immagine, with all the hygenic concerns that might bring to mind. I'm talking about punctures and infections. I'm talking about dead women who's blood is squarely on the hands of the Christian Right in this country.

[harpo]

5. then there is no way to get an accurate or estimated count

[babylonsister]

7. I'm not aware of illegal ones that have been taking place, other

than the men who beat the crap out of women hoping for an abort.
I honestly didn't know this was/is happening; so now we can
expect more and why have I never heard about it?

[wickerwoman]

11. It almost certainly is going on.

In Mississippi there is one clinic that performs abortions in the entire state. In South Dakota they have to fly a doctor in weekly to perform them. How many teens have the wherewithall to travel to a strange city halfway across the state and get an abortion without their parents knowing about it?

Thanks to cut-backs in sex ed many high school age kids don't have a clue where they would even go to get an abortion. And I'm sure many of them (even the ones who aren't raised by fundie nut jobs) are terrified of their parents finding out they are pregnant.

So abortion is technically legal, but so many barriers have been successfully raised in many states that it wouldn't surprise me to find a number of girls have opted for a quickie local abortion with someone less than qualified to perform one.

We don't hear about it because the girls who suffer are the least likely to want to publicize the fact.

[REP]

17. Becky Bell.

Died of an illegal abortion after Roe. Didn't want to disappoint her parents.

See my post down thread for more information about illegal abortion in the US and abroad.

[RaleighNCDUer]

6. Oh? How about the girl who had her boyfriend beat her in the

belly with a baseball bat to in induce miscarriage?

What's that, if not a do it yourself abortion?

Even throughout the past 30 years of legal abortions, there have been those who were too scared, too ashamed, or too disconnected from reality to go through legal channels. Certainly in the hundreds every year - usually not making national headlines like the example above.

But I, too, am curious about any rate change in the past decade, since the Repubs siezed power and started shutting down the clinics.

[Warpy]

3. In countries where abortion is illegal

the biggest cause of death for women of childbearing age is illegal abortion.

Bottom line: antiabortion laws kill women.

I'm sure here it's listed on the death certificate as peritonitis.

[Hekate]

21. Septicemia

I read that in the bad old days the larger hospitals used to have two ob/gyn wards: one for women who'd just had babies, and the other for women who were septic -- apparently no need to elaborate on the cause.

Hekate

[Quantess]

8. I recall one case

A few years ago I read about a college student in California who died from overdosing on Pennyroyal or Burdock or some herbal abortifacient. The herbs were supposed to cause cramping and bleeding of the uterus, but the herbs apparently worked too well, and caused her to bleed to death.

I don't remember why she didn't just go to a clinic for a safe abortion. I think it may have been that she didn't have the money for that, and figured the herbs were cheaper.

On Edit, I just found the story
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro/12.14.95/pennyroyal-9550.html

[Mythsaje]

10. That's quite an article...

thanks for posting it.

And welcome to DU!

[Capn Sunshine]

9. Lets ask also about how many newborns are killed by their mothers

This tragedy is what you get when you remove the option or poison young minds to such an extent they feel there is no option but to kill their child.

Right to life, my ass.

[REP]

15. Far, Far Fewer Than Die From Illegal Abortion; Complications of Childbirth

The feeling of absolute desperation involved with most cases of infanticide do not have anything to do with poisoned minds, but a degree of utter hopelessness that most cannot imagine. Most of those cases involve very young women, sometimes with limited resources, for whom even merely being pregnant is unthinkable. It's very easy to thingk, "well, why not just give the baby up for adoption?" but that is a glib response; first, it doesn't address the panic and desperation of these young women, many of whom have denied they were even pregnant and second, almost no one really wants to give up their baby to an unknown fate to strangers. In a blind panic and in a state of terrible anxiety, some of these young women make a horrible choice, but not out of malice. If society stopped treating female sexuality like a disease and a failing - well that might be an excellent first step so that maybe some of these pregnancies might be prevented in the first place by contraception (as it now, a 'good girl' who is prepared for the possibility of sex by having contraception isn't really a good girl, but a slut).

[REP]

12. Worldwide, About 80,000 Yearly

Sources:

Abortion Access Project. (2004, May 6; accessed 2005, August 11). Fact Sheet: The Impact of Illegal Abortion. . http://www.abortionaccess.org/AAP/publica_resources/fact_sheets/illegalabortion.htm
AGI - Alan Guttmacher Institute. (1999). Facts in Brief: Induced Abortion Worldwide. New York, New York: Alan Guttmacher Institute.

CRR - Center for Reproductive Rights. (2005a, accessed July 14, 2005). As World Eases Restrictions on Abortion, U.S. Becomes More Restrictive, Study Finds. . www.reproductiverights.org/pr_05_0304abortion.html.

CRR. (2005b, accessed July 19, 2005). Abortion and the Law: Ten Years of Reform. New York, New York: Center for Reproductive Rights. . www.reproductiverights.org.

Cohen, Susan A. (2003). Envisioning Life Without Roe: Lessons Without Borders. The Guttmacher Report, 6 (2), 3-5. . http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/tgr/06/2/gr060203.html

Gold, Rachel Benson. (2003). Lessons from Before Roe: Will Past be Prologue? The Guttmacher Report, 6 (1), 3-5. . http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2900603.html

Henshaw, Stanley K., Susheela Singh and Taylor Haas. (1999). The Incidence of Abortion Worldwide. International Family Planning Perspectives. 25 (Supplement), 30-38. . http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/25s3099.html

Ipas. (2005a). Achieving ICPD Commitments for Abortion Care in Latin America: The Unfinished Agenda. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Ipas.

Ipas. (2005b). Ensuring Women's Access to Safe Abortion: Essential Strategies for Achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: Ipas.

Ipas. (2005c, March 7, 2005; accessed July 19, 2005). Panel at Commission on the Status of Women Calls on Nations to Fulfill Beijing Promise to Address Unsafe Abortion. . http://www.ipas.org/english/pres_room/2005/releases/03072005.asp

Ipas. (2005d, June 16, 2005; accessed July 20, 2005). Egyptian Gynecologist Offers Reflections on Abortion and Moral Values. . http://www.ipas.org/english/press_room/2005/releases/06162005.asp

Ipas. (1995, accessed July 20, 2005). 10 Ways to Effectively Address Unsafe Abortion. http://www.ipas.org/publications/en/10_WAYS_E99_en.pdf

Marston, Cicely and John Cleland. (2003). Relationship Between Contraception and Abortion: A Review of the Evidence. International Family Planning Perspectives, 29 (1), 6-13. . http://www.guttmacher.org/pubs/journals/2900603.html

UNFPA. (1994). Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development. . http://www.unfpa.org/icpd/icpd_poa.htm

United Nations. (1995). Platform for Action of the International Conference on Women.. http://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/platform/plat1.htm

WHO - World Health Organization. (1998; accessed 2005, July 20). "World Health Day Safe Motherhood: Address Unsafe Abortion". . http://www.who.int/docstore/world-health-day/en/pages1998/whd98_10.html


WHO. (Geneva, 2004a). Unsafe Abortion: Global and Regional Estimates of the Incidence of Unsafe Abortion and Associated Mortality in 2000, 4th Edition. Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organization.

WHO. (2004b; accessed 2005,August 16). "Prevention of unsafe abortion". . http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/unsafe_abortion/index.html

[DanCa]

13. Untill teens start throwing selves off the top of stairs

the media will never cover it. Therefore we will never know. Out of sight and out of mind.

[Peter Frank]

14. You can bet that reasonably well off women get clean abortions...

...regardless of local laws & regardless of whether or not they come from Republican families.

This is a great day for hypocrisy.

[REP]

16. Define "Well Off"

I know women who were "well off' in the 60s who sought illegal abortions, which cost in today's dollars about $3,000.00. One woman was told "Don't worry, Honey, his hands don't shake so bad when he's drunk."

She survived. Her best friend has been dead longer than I've been alive.

[Peter Frank]

18. Your question is confusing...

My point is that if Roe is overturned -- won't the poor suffer the most?

[REP]

19. Not Just Poor Women

Women who can come up with $3K or however much it takes for an illegal instate abortion will face death from sepsis, punctured uteruses, etc. Poor women will have babies.

[Peter Frank]

20. Excellent point...

I am very much saddened. I thought that this discussion was behind us long ago.

But no. Bu$h built a bridge to the 1980's because he needed a knee-jerk base to vote for his elitist regime.

Bush could not care less about non-privileged society (anymore than his dad did).