WHO wants the world to do better on abortion.

Believing that the restrictions do not reduce the number but increase the risks, the Organization called on Wednesday to facilitate as much as possible the access of women to voluntary termination of pregnancy.

“We recommend that women and girls can access abortion and family planning services when they need them,” said Craig Lissner, a WHO official.

The UN agency speaks as it has revised all of its health recommendations regarding abortion procedures and what surrounds them: advice, follow-up...

America's Step Back

If these recommendations are broad and now include, for example, an incentive to develop teleconsultations for orientation, they are above all an opportunity for the WHO to plead for fewer restrictions on abortion.

Many countries drastically limit this right, reserving it for situations where the health of the mother is in danger.

Some, like El Salvador, even prohibit it completely.

The fears of abortion access advocates have recently focused on the United States, where several states have adopted restrictive measures and where the Supreme Court seems ready to reverse the idea that abortion constitutes an unassailable right. .

The WHO recommends “removing unnecessary restrictions from a medical point of view”, citing “criminalization, mandatory waiting times, imposing the agreement of other people – spouses or family – or institutions, and prohibiting abortion beyond a certain stage of pregnancy”.

Restrictions do not result in fewer abortions

Above all, these types of restrictions are not accompanied by a drop in the number of abortions, underlines the WHO, which cites a study published in 2020 in the

Lancet Global Health

.

On the contrary, "the restrictions will especially push women and young girls to resort to risky interventions", warns the Organization.

By resorting to illegal abortions, women therefore take risks for their health, whereas abortions carried out according to the rules are extremely safe.

The restrictions run the risk of "stigma and medical complications", insists the WHO.

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  • WHO

  • Family planning

  • Health

  • abortion

  • Abortion

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