There can be emotional problems for the woman after a spontaneous or induced abortion. She may feel sad, angry, or guilty that she had a miscarriage or asked for an abortion. She may think she has done something that made the miscarriage happen, or that having an abortion was the wrong thing to do, and because of this she may feel intense grief. There are many places where women can get help dealing with these feelings.
Some women who have induced abortions may get criticism from friends or family who have different beliefs. When scientists look at this in research studies, however, they do not usually see that women have emotional problems after induced abortions. In 1987, President Ronald Reagan told the Surgeon General of the US to look at this question. Both president Reagan and the Surgeon General C. Everett Koop did not think abortion was right. Dr Koop looked at 250 papers that scientists wrote in scientific journals. Dr Koop said that the science we know does not show that induced abortions cause emotional problems for women who have them.
The number of induced abortions done are different for different parts of the world. This is also true for the reasons why women decide to have an abortion. Estimates are that about 46 million induced abortions are done worldwide, every year. 26 million of them occur in places where abortion is legal, 20 million happen in countries where it is illegal to have an abortion. Some countries, like Belgium (11.2 per 100 known pregnancies) and the Netherlands (10.6 per 100) have a low rate of induced abortion. Others, like Russia (62.6 per 100) and Vietnam (43.7 per 100) have a comparatively high rate. Overall, there are 26 induced abortions per 100 known pregnancies.
WHO estimated in 2001 that every year, about 210 million women get pregnant, and that there are about 135 mililon live births. The remaining 75 million cases are miscarriages or induced abortions. About forty percent of pregnancies are unplanned, and about a fifth of the pregnant women decide to end the pregnancy early. This results in about 42 million abortions per year. About 20 million of these are legal, the rest are against the law. Most of the illegal abortions are performed by those who are not medically qualified, often with poor hygiene, which often threaten the lives of the women. The WHO estimated that about 47.000 women died in 2008 because of illegal abortions. This number was lower than the estimate of 1990, mainly because in South America, women opted to take drugs to end the pregnancy.
Abortion rates vary. The length the pregnancy has gone on, and the method used to do the abortion influence these rates. According to data collected in the United States, 88.2% of abortions were done in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy, 10.4% between week 13 and week 20 of the pregnancy. The remaining 1.4% were done in week 21 or later.
90.9% were done by curettage, 7.7% were medical abortions (using drugs, mifepristone in most cases), 0.4% by "intrauterine instillation" (saline or prostaglandin), and 1.0% by "other" (including hysterotomy and hysterectomy). The Guttmacher Institute estimated there were 2,200 intact dilation and extraction procedures in the U.S. during 2000 - 0.17% of the total number of abortions performed that year. Similarly, in England and Wales in 2006, 89% of terminations occurred at or under 12 weeks, 9% between 13 and 19 weeks, and 1.5% at or over 20 weeks. 64% of those reported were by vacuum aspiration, 6% by D&E, and 30% were medical. Later abortions are more common in China, India, and other developing countries than in developed countries.
In 1998, a study was done in 27 countries. This study wanted to find the reasons, why women wanted to end their pregnancy. It found that women often gave one of the following reasons:
A different study, done in the United States in 2004 came to similar conclusions.
Women who had an abortion in Finland and the United States usually did not state that the pregnancy posed a risk to their health. In Bangladesh, India and Kenya, however, more such women thought the pregnancy was a risk to their health. 1% of women in the 2004 survey-based U.S. study became pregnant as a result of rape and 0.5% as a result of incest. Another American study in 2002 concluded that 54% of women who had an abortion were using a form of contraception at the time of becoming pregnant. Inconsistent use was reported by 49% of those using condoms and 76% of those using the combined oral contraceptive pill; 42% of those using condoms reported failure through slipping or breakage. The Guttmacher Institute estimated that "most abortions in the United States are obtained by minority women" because minority women "have much higher rates of unintended pregnancy."
Some women have an abortion because the society they live in pressures them to.
Any of these factors might force a pregnant woman to have an abortion.
Induced abortion is not legal in every place. In some countries, a doctor who does an induced abortion is committing a "crime". In the United States, Canada, and many countries in Europe abortion is legal (not a crime). In some countries like Ireland and Somalia it is legal only to save the life of the woman. In some countries like Chile and El Salvador, abortion is never legal, including in cases where the woman risks dying from continuing the pregnancy.
In countries where induced abortion is not legal many more women die from abortion. Women still get induced abortions, but they cannot get them in safe hospitals and clinics. These induced abortions have more complications than abortions done by doctors.
Women who live in places where abortion is illegal, or heavily frowned upon sometimes travel to other places where an abortion can be done legally, so they can have an abortion. This is a form of medical tourism.
Spontaneous abortions occur in various mammals. In sheep, it may be caused by crowding through doors, or by being chased by dogs. In cows, abortion may be caused by contagious diseases, such as Brucellosis or Campylobacter. This can often be controlled by vaccination, though.
Abortion may also be induced in animals, in the context of animal husbandry. For example, abortion may be induced in mares that have been mated improperly, or that have been purchased by owners who did not realize the mares were pregnant, or that are pregnant with twin foals.
Feticide can occur in horses and zebras. Usually this is done because males harass pregnant mares or force copulation. Scientists have raised the question, how often this occurs in the wild, though. Male Gray langur monkeys may attack females following male takeover, causing miscarriage.
Induced abortion is a subject that is controversial. Each person has a system of moral values. Based on their system of morals, people have different opinions about it. Religion can also influence this opinion.
A number of opinion polls have been carried out around the world. They have tried to find out what people think about abortion. Results were different for different countries, but also varied with the questions that were asked.
In May 2005, a survey was done in ten European countries. The people were asked, if they could agree with the statement: "If a woman does not want children, she should be allowed to have an abortion". The highest level of approval was 81% in the Czech Republic; the lowest was 47% in Poland.