By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
A huge surge in maternal deaths in South Africa – with many of these deaths attributed to abortion complications – is challenging the pro-abortion mantra that abortion decreases maternal mortality.
According to the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF), a new report has found a 20 percent increase in maternal deaths between 2005 and 2007 in South Africa compared to the previous three-year period. While HIV/AIDS accounts for over 40 percent of the deaths, almost four out of every 10 deaths which researchers considered to be “clearly avoidable” include deaths due to “non-pregnancy related infections” – which are complications from abortion.
The report defines “maternal deaths” as “deaths of women while pregnant or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy from any cause related to or aggravated by the pregnancy or its management, but not from accidental or incidental causes.”
Aside from AIDS-related infections, which killed three times as many women as any other complication, hypertension (15.7%), obstetric haemorrhage (12.4%), pregnancy-related sepsis (9%) and pre-existing maternal disease (6%) were the other main killers.
Overseas abortion providers, which the Obama Administration is now funding with U.S. taxpayer dollars, are aggressively seeking to decriminalize abortion in Africa as a way to reduce maternal mortality rates. However, this new report only adds to a growing pile of evidence showing that legalized abortion increases rather than decreases maternal mortality rates.
For instance, LifeSiteNews.com reports that a 2009 report by the World Health Organization (WHO) found that African nations with the lowest maternal mortality rates such as Mauritius, which has the most restrictive abortion laws in Africa, have the lowest maternal mortality rates. Countries that have decriminalized abortion in recent years, such as Ethiopia, now have a maternal death rate that is 48 times higher than Mauritius.
In Chile, which protects the unborn in its constitution, has the lowest maternal mortality rate in South America. The country with the highest is Guyana, where the maternal mortality rate is 30 times higher than Chile’s. Guyana has allowed abortion without restriction since 1995.
In South East Asia, Nepal, which has no restrictions on abortion, has the highest maternal mortality rate in the region. The lowest in the region is found in Sri Lanka, which has the most restrictive abortion laws in the world.
In addition to improving health care provider knowledge and skills, the latest report is recommending that the South African department of health improve the “quality and coverage of reproductive health services, namely contraceptive and termination of pregnancy services.”
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