Zahn; we have to cite sources in wikipedia, simple as that. That does not however mean that what it says in the article is not a bit presumptive. It is obvious that we have a limited ability to monitor abortions in many poor or undemocratic countries. WHO has cited it as approximately 50 million in 2001 and an estimated 40 - 50 million in 2003 (http://www.who.int/reproductive-health/publications/safe_abortion/safe_abortion.pdfan" other sources have it as low as 20 million or as high as 88 million as far as i can see. None of these estimations are as hihly regarded as the lancet however. My point is that a number as exact as 42 million or 46 million should be regarded as estimations not approximations(it is also called so in the lancet article). This may be a small difference but still... Lets change it to "the estimated number" in stead of "the approximate number".