Abstract

PIP: Recent surveys have shown that 3.4 million illegal abortions may be taking place in the Latin American countries every year, with a rate of around 45/1000 women of childbearing age. Yet only in Cuba can women have abortion on demand. In the other countries the penalty for the abortionist and the client is a prison sentence. The only way of measuring the frequency of abortion is through the numbers of women entering hospitals for treatment of postabortion complication, but not all countries publish hospitals statistics that are reliable. Surveys in Chile and Colombia for 1974 show a rate of 11.7-17.9/1000 women of fertile age undergoing illegal abortions, with only 1/3 resulting in complications. The law is not strictly enforced in these countries because the number of people that will have to be prosecuted is too large and because there is no place to care for the young children of women who will be prosecuted. Yet the abortion death rate (38% of total maternal deaths) is so high that a new policy must be drawn up, especially since women who have normal deliveries are sent home earlier to make room for those with abortion complications, resulting in a high infant mortality rate. In addition the rate of pregnancies among adolescents is very high due to the permissive social atmosphere combined with a lack of sex education in the schools. Studies that would allow international comparisons to show ways to prevent the consequences of illegal abortions are needed.