Making Legal Abortion "Safe," Illegal "Unsafe," by Definition

By far, the vast majority of "unsafe abortions" the World Health Organization (WHO) reports are attributed to countries or regions where abortion is illegal, supposedly giving weight to the claim that abortion becomes safer when legalized. But does WHO generate these numbers by conducting large-scale scientific field investigations carefully distinguishing and separately tallying "safe" and "unsafe" abortions? No. Assignments to the "safe" and "unsafe" categories are largely based on the pre-set definition WHO uses equating legality with safety.

According to WHO's 1998 report on "Unsafe Abortion," "Unsafe abortions are characterized by the lack or inadequacy of skills of the provider, hazardous techniques and unsanitary facilities." Fine, so far. But WHO continues, "Although the legality or illegality of the services may not be the defining factor of their safety, for the purpose of these tabulations, unsafe abortion has been defined as an 'abortion not provided through approved facilities and/or persons.'" Obviously, there would be no "approved facilities and/or persons" where abortion was illegal, and WHO admits as much, saying, "What constitutes 'approved facilities and/or persons' will vary according to the legal and medical standards of each country." Voila! Abortions conducted in countries where abortion is illegal are automatically counted as "unsafe," while those performed in state-recognized clinics in countries where abortion is legal are generally assumed "safe."

The most relevant data on the overall quality of care, which might involve the training of practitioners, the level of facilities, equipment, or medicines, appear in this definition not to have been counted at all. WHO says directly, "The definition does not take into consideration differences in quality, services available or the other substantial differences between health systems."