What are the health consequences of illegal and unsafe abortion?
Every year, as many as 78,000 women worldwide die as a direct result of illegal and unsafe abortions. An unknown number of others suffer serious and sometimes permanent health complications from the some 20 million illegal abortions performed worldwide each year. Common complications of unsafe abortions include infertility, serious infections that may lead to the need for a hysterectomy, hemorrhaging and severe blood-loss, uterine perforation, pelvic inflammatory disease, and difficulties in retaining later pregnancies. Illegal and unsafe abortions do not always involve complications, and are not always life threatening. Nonetheless, complications are potentially life threatening when women do not have access to fast, effective, and adequate medical attention.
