Stop typing the abortion as a crime. This decision has been maintained, rather than in the interference of the own woman, in the hands of public opinion. The stigma surrounding Interruption of pregnancy It is a discourse that for years has been legitimized by conservatism groups. In this context, we present five of the most widespread myths or false beliefs, in contrast to the science and the experts speak.
In countries where it is legalized, abortion does not multiply
One of the most repeated arguments in Twitter is that when abortion is decriminalized, the demand grows.
Researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Guttmacher Institute studied the global incidence of abortion between 1990 and 2014 and concluded that abortion rates “have decreased significantly since 1990 in developed countries”, where it has mostly been decriminalized.
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In contrast, they have not been reduced in “developing nations”, where it continues to be illegal in many cases, such as in Haiti, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Honduras. Even so, some countries register an increase in the abortion rate in the first years after decriminalization, but then it decreases and stabilizes.
In France and Italy, the abortion rate per 1,000 women of reproductive age showed a slight upward fluctuation during the first two to three years after decriminalization, but then fell steadily from at least 1980 to 1996, according to the Italian National Institute of Health. .
The research director of the Universidad de los Andes School of Medicine, Luis Jorge Hernández, affirmed that this initial increase is due to the “under-registration” that exists when abortion is prohibited.
Many women resort to the termination of pregnancy without reporting it to any medical entity for fear of being reported, but when it becomes legal, cases that were done in hiding emerge.
It should be noted that the lowest abortion rates in the world are observed in countries where the laws are widely permissive and access to abortion is easy, such as the Netherlands, Belgium, Germany and Switzerland, where in 2008 the rates ranged from seven to nine. abortions per 1,000 women between the ages of 15 and 44, according to data from the Guttmacher Institute.
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The average abortion rate between 2015 and 2019 was 15 per 1,000 women in high-income countries, 44 in middle-income countries and 38 in low-income countries, according to the latest estimates by the US organization.
Maternal mortality does not increase
“In countries where there is free abortion, the rate of maternal mortality it is much higher, “said Chilean presidential candidate José Antonio Kast in a television debate.
It’s false. The data shows that it is the other way around. In the European Union, the maternal mortality rate stood at six deaths per 100,000 live births between 2012 and 2017, according to data from the World Bank.
In contrast, in Latin America and the Caribbean, the rate was 74 deaths per 100,000 in 2017, with countries like Bolivia far above it, with 155 deaths per 100,000 births. In Chile, the maternal mortality rate was 13 deaths in 2017, while in Spain, on the other hand, it was four and in Italy, two.
Furthermore, unsafe abortions – when a woman alone terminates a pregnancy without minimal medical guarantees – caused between 4.7% and 13.2% of all global maternal deaths between 2003 and 2009, according to researchers from the The OMS.
Abortion does not cause breast cancer
Voluntary termination of pregnancy does not cause breast cancer, as the Brazilian deputy Filipe Barros assured in October, in a tweet in which he echoed a widespread belief, but which has no scientific backing and which is rejected by professional medical organizations.
It has been emphatically denied by the WHO on several occasions. For example, in a 2012 study in which he clarified that “robust epidemiological data does not show any increased risk of breast cancer for women after miscarriage or induced abortion.”
It is also denied by the United States National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the American Congress of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, or the German Cancer Research Center.
The National Cancer Institute (NCI) brought 100 of the world’s leading experts on pregnancy and breast cancer risk to a workshop in 2003 where they reviewed existing studies on the subject and concluded that “having a Induced abortion or miscarriage does not increase the risk of developing breast cancer. “
On the NCI website there is a page dedicated to this issue, where evidence is provided that denies the relationship between abortion and breast cancer, such as a study in France carried out on more than 100,000 women, also published in 2003, which also found no relationship between the two.
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Abortion does not cause mental sequelae in women
As early as 2008, an investigation by Johns Hopkins University reviewed 21 English-speaking studies involving 150,000 women and found that abortions, when performed in compliance with quality standards, did not cause health problems. mental health long-term differences between women who chose to abort and those who suffered a miscarriage.
Another University of California research followed 956 women for 5 years and concluded that those who were unable to access an abortion were more likely to experience “high levels of anxiety, lower life satisfaction and lower self-esteem “, compared to women who were able to abort.
“It is obvious that abortion is not an easy decision, it causes personal stress, psycho-emotional tension, but it does not cause sequelae,” emphasizes Dr. Luis Jorge Hernández.
The WHO has also spoken out on this issue and considers that “negative psychological sequelae occur in a very small number of women and appear to be the continuation of pre-existing conditions, rather than the result of the abortion experience.”
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In Mexico and Colombia, there are women who faced trials for aborting
One argument against decriminalization is that it is not necessary because there are no women in jail for aborting either.
Mexican NGOs clarify that although there are no women in prison for that specific crime, there are 200 women imprisoned for related crimes, such as spontaneous births, premature abortions or obstetric emergencies.
In Colombia, the study Criminalization for the crime of abortion in Colombia, carried out by the Mesa por la Vida y la Salud de las Mujeres and researchers from the Universidad de los Andes, collects with data from the Attorney General’s Office that since 2008 there are around 400 court cases for abortion each year, 320% more than in 2005.
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