Abortion in the Middle East and North Africa.

Abstract

Unsafe abortion is one of the most neglected public health challenges in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region where an estimated one in four pregnancies are unintended--wanting to have a child later or wanting no more children. Many women with unintended pregnancies resort to clandestine abortions that are not safe. According to the World Health Organization around 1.5 million abortions in MENA in 2003 were performed in unsanitary settings by unskilled providers or both. Complications from those abortions accounted for 11 percent of maternal deaths in the region. Abortion is one of the oldest medical practices evidence of which dates back to ancient Egypt Greece and Rome. Abortion techniques used by Egyptian pharaohs were documented in the ancient Ebers Papyrus (1550 B.C.). It is believed that during the Middle Ages abortion techniques were adopted and accepted by Western Europe and later diffused across the globe. Today medical and scientific advances have made abortion a safe procedure when offered under medical supervision and with high standards of care. Yet each year thousands of women in the developing world die and millions more are left with temporary or permanent disabilities because of unsafe abortion. This policy brief explores the public health concerns surrounding abortion in MENA and discusses ways to make it both rarer and safer.