Every year, over 46 million abortions occur around the world. Research done by the World Health Organization show that 1 in 10 pregnancies will end in an unsafe abortion with Asia, Africa and Latin America accounting for the highest numbers. (WHO, 2004) Due to legal regulations, over 20 million abortions are done in unsafe conditions annually. (AGI, 1999) The term 'unsafe abortion' means that the procedures are performed in unsanitary or medically unsound conditions and by poorly trained providers. The term also includes the women who self-induce an abortion using crude or dangerous methods. The rate at which women seek abortions is similar for women living in developed and developing countries. (AGI, 1999) However, approximately 95% of unsafe abortions take place in developing countries. (Warriner & Shah, 2006)

Most women choose to have an abortion when they are faced with an unwanted pregnancy. Unplanned and unwanted pregnancies occur for a number of reasons: improper or a lack of use of contraception, contraceptive failure, a lack of access to family planning information, services and supplies, because of financial or moral reasons, because of pressure to engage in sexual activity and in instances of rape. There are also many changes that can happen to make a wanted pregnancy unwanted. A lack of support or abandonment, health problems and financial difficulties are just a few of the many factors that affect the circumstances under which a pregnancy becomes unwanted. (WHO, 1998).

Many factors can force women to resort to unsafe abortion procedures. For example, the illegality of abortion or restrictive laws on abortion can impede a woman's access to safe abortion services. According to Women on Waves, a Dutch NGO working on the issue of unsafe abortion, approximately 25% of the world population lives in countries with highly restrictive abortion laws. The majority of these countries are in Latin America, Africa and Asia. Consequently, these are also the continents with the highest incidence of deaths due to unsafe abortion.

In some countries abortion is legal but the law stipulates conditions, such as gestational limits or consent requirements, that have to be respected in order to obtain the procedure. Other countries will only allow abortion when the life of the mother is at risk or if the pregnancy is the result of rape. Mexico has such a policy. Mexican women who have been raped or whose health is in danger because of a pregnancy are supposed to have access to abortion services but in many cases they struggle to access safe abortions. It is quite often that the authorities deny their requests for abortions or take so much time to decide whether or not to approve the procedure that they can no longer have an abortion. Because of these difficulties in access, women are often pressured to resort to clandestine abortion procedures.

The Population Division of the United Nations Department of Economic
and Social Affairs has created a Wall Map providing the most up-to-date
and objective inforamtion available on the legal status of induced
abortion for the 195 Member and non-Member States of the United Nations. To
complement this information, data on abortion rates, contraceptive
prevalence, total fertility and maternal mortality are also provided. The
chart is available at
http://www.un.org/esa/population/publications/2007_Abortion_Policies_Chart/2007_WallChart.pdf

Abortion rates are not lower in areas where abortion is restricted by law. Women with an unwanted pregnancy will seek an abortion regardless of its legal status. They will want to have an abortion even if they have to risk their health and jeopardize their lives by undergoing an illegal and/or unsafe procedure.

Social norms and cultural values can also play a big role in forcing women to access unsafe abortions. Many countries have strong religious beliefs or traditions that condemn sexual behaviour for reasons other than procreation. In many countries, abortion is taboo. In such societies, many women will be ashamed to look for abortion services and will prefer to get the services in a clandestine place, away from public attention. These values also come into play by impeding men's and women's access to information on sexual and reproductive health that would contribute to decreasing unplanned pregnancies, such as contraceptive methods, family planning, sexuality education, etc.

The cost of accessing a safe abortion is also a barrier for women who are trying to terminate an unwanted pregnancy. Women often do not have the financial means to pay for a procedure in a private clinic and often have to resort to cheap and dangerous abortive methods.

It is estimated that over 80,000 women die from complications during or after unsafe abortions. This number could be a lot higher because many women have passed away outside of hospitals and have not had their cause of death registered. Some family members also choose to hide the real cause of a woman's death. Today, up to a quarter of all maternal deaths in developing countries stem from the complications of unsafe abortion. (Warriner & Shah, 2006)

Millions of women suffer from the injuries and long-term consequences of unsafe abortions. These injuries include, but are not limited to, chronic pelvic pain, tubal blockage, tetanus, hemorrhaging, bowel injury and infertility. It is often extremely difficult for these women to access health services to help them heal the consequences of unsafe abortion because they may face judgmental reactions from healthcare providers or hospital staff. There are also financial barriers in looking for adequate health services to mediate the health consequences of unsafe abortions.

This dramatic situation is fueled by anti-choice actions and policies that are imposed on different countries by their own and by foreign governments. For example, on his first day in office in 2001, U.S. President George W. Bush reinstated the Global Gag Rule to restrict any U.S. family planning assistance to be provided to foreign NGOs that:
- perform abortions in cases other than for a threat to the woman's life, as a cause of rape or of incest;
- provide counseling and referral for abortions;
- or lobby to make abortion legal or more available in a country.

As a result many organizations that were working to decrease the impact of unsafe abortion and to ensure that all women could make informed choices on their sexual and reproductive health were forced to close clinics and otherwise restrict their services.

In 1994, the world's nations came together for the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt. At this meeting, countries agreed that unsafe abortion is a major public health concern and that governments should work to eliminate unsafe abortion and make abortion safer in countries where it is legal. (WHO, 1998) At the ICPD five year and ten year reviews, countries renewed their commitment to eliminate unsafe abortion. However, because women are still dying from unsafe abortion throughout the world we can see that we are far from having achieved the targets established by the international community.

Canada has been a strong supporter of sexual and reproductive rights at the international level, particularly at the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development and its five and ten year reviews, and at the Fourth World Conference on Women and its five and ten year reviews. Canada's expenditures on sexual and reproductive healthcare have increased from 25% to well over 50% of the $200 million dollar 'fair share' agreement of the Cairo conference. However, in spite of this significant increase in support, there remains much to be done in order to ensure that internationally, all women can exercise their right to choose whether or not to continue a pregnancy.

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