True. But you know RWNJs, there's not a conspiracy theory around that they don't embrace wholeheartedly.
Cuts both ways, the sistas seem to think removing R v W will mean returning to the coathanger for many. Fact is nine out of 10 abortions are performed before 12 weeks in many high-income countries, meaning that surgical abortion is almost totally unnecessary in this day and age.
Nine out of 10 abortions done before 12 weeks in many high-income countries
Medical abortion now accounts for at least half of pregnancy terminations in most of them
Nine out of 10 abortions happen before 12 weeks of pregnancy in many high-income countries, while the proportion of those done under 9 weeks has risen over the past decade, reveals the first review of its kind, published online in
BMJ Sexual & Reproductive Health.
What’s more, medical (drug induced) abortion accounts for at least half of all pregnancy terminations in most of these countries.
The researchers base their findings on official statistics on the number of legal abortions carried out in 24 countries with liberal abortion laws, and classified by the World Bank as high-income. Abortion is available on request in 18 of these countries; on social or economic grounds in four; and for the sake of a woman’s mental health in two (New Zealand and Israel). The researchers focused on length of pregnancy–under 9 weeks; 9-12; 13 or more–and abortion method for the most recent year after 2010, and where data were available, for the 10 years before the most recent estimate.
Generally, most abortions were carried out by 10 or 11 weeks, and in most countries nearly all abortions (90%) were obtained before 13 weeks, with the highest proportion in Germany (97%).
The proportion of abortions carried out after 13 weeks was highest in the Netherlands (18%), possibly because of the numbers of non-residents seeking abortion care in a country where there is no gestational age limit for legal abortion, suggest the researchers.
“The increase in abortions earlier than 9 weeks is likely closely related to the increased availability of medical abortion, since when [it] was approved, the recommended protocol is for a medication abortion to occur under 63 days or 9 weeks’ gestation,” they explain.
“This trend might also be due to the rise in technologies for earlier detection of pregnancy, and the widespread availability of pregnancy tests that provide accurate results at early gestations,” they add.
But other factors, such as mandatory waiting periods for medical abortion and healthcare professionals’ conscientious objection, can delay or prevent women from accessing timely abortion care, note the researchers.
In Italy, for example, “it is estimated that 82%-91% of providers in Rome and the surrounding areas are conscientious objectors, and abortion services are only provided in 60% of Italian hospitals,” they point out.
This is an observational study, and it’s perfectly possible that the abortion statistics used for the analysis were incomplete or under reported, caution the researchers. But their findings “suggest improvements in access to timely care and a choice of methods in some countries, although research is needed to understand if the observed distributions are a function of women’s preferences or of barriers to care,” they conclude.
https://www.bmj.com/company/newsroo...efore-12-weeks-in-many-high-income-countries/
