Research counters expectations on abortion

#1170 for broadcast on 2CH Sydney, 27 December 2015

According to research from the MELISA Institute, since Chile’s ban on abortion in 1989, not only has maternal health improved but the number of women seeking illegal abortion has plummeted.

This places Chile in an enviable second place for the lowest maternal mortality rate in the Americas, ahead of the United States.

Lead author of the study, molecular epidemiologist Professor Elard Koch, says educating women enhanced their ability to access existing health care resources, and since those resources included skilled attendants for childbirth, it directly led to a reduction of maternal deaths during pregnancy and childbirth.

This finding counters the prevailing view, popular among feminists, that outlawing abortion won’t stop abortions – women will just do it illegally and women will die.

According to data from the Chilean Ministry of Health, the country displays a continuous decreasing trend of hospital discharges due to complications of abortions suspected to be illegally induced.

I’m Rod Benson for the NSW Council of Churches.