ABORTION/ The WHO says it’s safe, but it’s killed 263 million in six years

The World Health Organization called abortion a safe practice, and at the same time certifies that, from 2003 to 2008, 43 million and 800 thousand abortions took place every year around the world. "It may be partly safe for the women and their partners, but certainly not for the child, given that we have had 263 million abortions in six years", Carlo Bellieni, a neonatologist at the University of Siena, says about the latest research published in the journal Lancet by the WHO and the Guttmacher Institute, an American pro-choice organization. The study shows that, in countries where abortion is legal, the number of abortions is lower than where this practice is punishable by law. For Bellieni, however, "claiming to accurately calculate the number of abortions in countries where they are illegal is a bit like trying to find out how many people evade taxes: any research of this type has serious scientific shortcomings. Also, in the West statistics on the interruption of pregnancies do not take into account those women who do it at home using the abortion pill".

Professor Bellieni, the WHO called abortion a "safe practice". Is that really true?
A safe abortion does not exist, and not just because it carries risks for the woman's psyche, but also because it leads to death of the child. So talking about a safe abortion is a contradiction, if by "safe" one means something that does not cause damage. At least, we should first ask what that living being thinks about it.

Why does abortion present risks to a woman's psyche?
At a psychiatric level, several studies have demonstrated the existence of significant risks for the psyche of women who have had an abortion. These studies have also shown that the risks are much higher than when a woman loses a child to a miscarriage.

What do you think about the WHO’s claim that, in countries where abortion is illegal, interruptions of pregnancy are more numerous than where it is legal?
Research must always be respected, but this data was affected by the fact that, in Western countries, not all abortions are registered, since many of them are carried out through pharmacological interventions at home. Among these interventions, there is the fifth day pill, RU486, in addition to various contraceptive tools that can also cause abortions. This reduces the abortion rate recorded in the hospital, but not the total number of abortions. Another concern related to the research is that it is difficult to understand how they can be so precise in calculating the percentage of abortions in countries where this practice is illegal. A person is unlikely to voluntarily admit to having committed a crime because they would end up in prison. It is a bit like trying to take a survey to find out how many people evade taxes: respondents probably will not tell the truth. To give an even more fitting example, the WHO and Guttmacher Institute’s research looks like the research that says that 10% of infants are the child of a man other than the woman’s husband. This data is clearly questionable from a scientific standpoint.