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Article: Abortion Laws
- Article from:
- Encyclopedia of Public Health
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CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Gale Group Inc. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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ABORTION LAWS
The United Nations International Conference on Population and Development, held in Cairo in 1994, recognized unsafe abortion as a major public health concern. The World Health Organization estimates that about 75,000 women die each year from unskilled abortion. Damage to women's health and the burden of care that falls on often-scarce hospital resources also add to the costly impact of poorly performed abortion on public health systems.
Abortions are usually performed without adequate skill because of laws that make safe, medically performed abortion services unlawful. Within the last two centuries, and particularly during the twentieth century, abortion has been ...