Midwives could perform safe abortions, study says
I wonder if we could get the Bush administration to help fund this? I know. That’s not funny. I think this administration and its supporters would just say that the women deserved to die for killing their unborn child.
Midwives could perform safe abortions, study says
By Patricia Reaney
LONDON (Reuters) - Specially trained midwives and doctors' assistants can perform early abortions in developing countries as safely as doctors, researchers said on Wednesday.
Each year an estimated 19 million women have unsafe abortions and nearly 70,000, or about eight every hour, die because of complications.
Improving access to safe procedures in poor areas could reduce the number of deaths, complications and children orphaned by backstreet abortions and free up doctors to perform more complicated operations.
"With appropriate government training, mid-level health-care providers can provide first-trimester vacuum aspiration abortions as safely as doctors can," said Ina Warriner, of the World Health Organization (WHO) in Geneva, in a report published online by The Lancet medical journal.
Read entire article online at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061129/hl_nm/abortion_dc_1
And then there’s this related article:
Deadly toll of botched abortions
Unsafe abortions in the developing world kill 68,000 women a year, research suggests.
They also lead to at least five million other people going to hospital for infection and other complications, the Lancet study estimates.
A team from New York's Guttmacher Institute made their estimate after analysing data from 13 countries.
They suggested around 19 million unsafe abortions take place around the world each year.
That tally includes back-street pregnancy terminations as well as legal ones.
The researchers, funded by the pro-abortion Hewlett Foundation, said by comparison, in developed countries complications from abortion procedures or people going to hospital were rare.Read entire article online at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/6176756.stm
Speaking of abortion, I think this is a great idea to help stop unwanted pregnancy and prevent the need for an abortion:
An Opening on Abortion?
If both parties combine wisdom with shrewdness, the election of a new congressional majority should open the way for a better approach to the abortion question.
The bitter political brawling of the past three decades has created an unproductive stalemate that leaves abortion opponents frustrated, abortion rights supporters in a constant state of worry and the many Americans who hold middle-ground positions feeling that there is no one who speaks for them.
But the politics of abortion began to change even before this month's elections. In September, a group of 23 pro-choice and pro-life Democratic House members introduced what they called the Reducing the Need for Abortion and Supporting Parents Act.
Okay, it's not the catchiest title, but you get the point. The bill -- its sponsor is Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio), an abortion opponent, with Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-Conn.), an abortion rights supporter, a leading co-sponsor -- took a lot of negotiation. Supporters of abortion rights tend to favor programs that encourage effective contraception, which some in the right-to-life movement oppose. Opponents of abortion emphasize helping women who want to carry their children to term.
The Ryan bill, one of several congressional initiatives to reduce the abortion rate, does both. It includes a remarkably broad set of programs aimed at reducing teen pregnancy, promoting contraception and encouraging parental responsibility. But it also includes strong measures to offer new mothers full access to health coverage, child care and nutrition assistance.
The public debate usually ignores the fact that abortion rates are closely tied to income. As the Guttmacher Institute has reported, "the abortion rate among women living below the federal poverty level . . . is more than four times that of women above 300 percent of the poverty level." The numbers are stark: 44 abortions per 1,000 women in the lower income group, 10 abortions per 1,000 women in the higher income group.
In other words: If you truly care about reducing the number of abortions, you have to care about the well-being of poor women.
Read entire article online at: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/11/20/AR2006112000964.html
