UN: Maternal Mortality Declines by One-Third Despite No Abortion Legalization

International   |   Steven Ertelt   |   Sep 15, 2010   |   9:00AM   |   WASHINGTON, DC

UN: Maternal Mortality Declines by One-Third Despite No Abortion Legalization

by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
September 15
, 2010

New York, NY (LifeNews.com) — UN agencies and pro-abortion groups have told women and governmental bodies across the world that the only way to reduce maternal mortality is by legalizing abortions. Even though abortion has not been made legal in a slew of new nations, the UN today reports maternal mortality has declined by one-third.

The number of women dying due to complications during pregnancy and childbirth has decreased by 33%, a new report shows.

The report is titled "Trends in maternal mortality" and released by the World Health Organization (WHO), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) and the World Bank. Those are all agencies that have come under fire for promoting abortion as the solution for cutting maternal mortality figures.

Their report shows 546,000 women died in 1990 during childbirth and 358,000 died in 2008, without a corresponding legalization of abortion in countries on continents such as Africa and South America.

"The global reduction in maternal death rates is encouraging news," says Dr Margaret Chan, the Director-General of WHO. "Countries where women are facing a high risk of death during pregnancy or childbirth are taking measures that are proving effective; they are training more midwives, and strengthening hospitals and health centers to assist pregnant women."

The report appears to highlight how better access to medicine and medical technology is responsible for improving maternal mortality numbers, not abortion.

The risk of a woman in a developing country dying from a pregnancy-related cause during her lifetime is about 36 times higher compared to a woman living in a developed country, the report noted.

The report shows 10 countries with maternal mortality ratios equal to or over 100 in 1990, are on track with an annual decline of 5.5% between 1990 and 2008.

The study shows progress in sub-Saharan Africa where maternal mortality decreased by 26% in nations that are almost all pro-life. In Asia, the number of maternal deaths is estimated to have dropped from 315,000 to 139,000 between 1990 and 2008, a 52% decrease.

Scott Fischbach, director of the MCCL Global Outreach program, told LifeNews.com toda in response to the study: "It is a big step in the right direction to have the UN acknowledge progress on maternal mortality. The facts are clear that we can protect women and their babies with adequate health care, not abortion."

The new WHO numbers follow a seminal report in the British medical journal The Lancet in April showing a dramatic decline in maternal deaths worldwide.

The Lancet reported 526,300 maternal deaths worldwide in 1980 and 342,900 deaths in 2008, a reduction of 35 percent.

“This new study is further proof that it is clean water, clean blood and adequate access to health care—not abortion on demand—that will help pregnant women and their babies globally,” Fischbach told LifeNews.com at the time.

“For years the advocates of abortion have used the maternal mortality issue to overthrow pro-life laws in country after country,” Fischbach continued. “Without the maternal mortality argument, another gaping hole exists in their push for abortion on demand.”

The solution to illegal abortions and high maternal mortality rates is very simple Fischbach explains: provide hope, opportunity and support for pregnant women by ensuring a clean water supply, clean blood supply and adequate health care. Statistics confirm that these save women’s lives — not the legalization of abortion.

Ireland, a country with pro-life laws in place, has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world, and Nepal, a country with abortion on demand, has one of the highest maternal mortality rates at 830 deaths per 100,000 live births.

According to the new study, maternal mortality increased in the United States by 42 percent from 1980 to 2008. Abortion was legal in the U.S. throughout all nine months of pregnancy during this 28-year period.

The Lancet researchers were surprised that three of the richest countries in the world actually showed increased maternal morality; the United States, Canada and Norway were three countries with the most liberal abortion laws in the world.

The Lancet’s editor Dr. Richard Horton told the New York Times he was pressured “by advocacy groups” to delay publication of the report until later this year.

Related web sites:
Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life – https://www.mccl.org

 

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