Abortion is the termination of pregnancy. It is the removal of the fetus before it is viable.

It is
usually done before the fetus gets to 25 weeks old. It is either spontaneous or induced
abortion. In developed countries, abortion is legal whereas most developing countries do
not encourage and permit abortion. This brings about the differences in safe and unsafe
abortions. For example, unsafe abortion accounts for over 70,000 maternal
deaths worldwide.

Abortion has a long history. In the past, it was done with the help of crude tools such as
sharpened tools, physical trauma, and other traditional methods. With the advancement in
the field of medicine, contemporary methods of abortion are now used:

 Medication abortion involves taking medicines to end a pregnancy.

 A surgical abortion is meant to use medical instruments to remove the pregnancy.

The Status of Abortion in the World

Each country in the world has different legality, cultural and religious statuses and
prevalence of abortion. The ethical principles towards abortion and the removal of
pregnancies also vary. Countries such as the United States of America and Britain have
heated politics surrounding the issue of abortion in pro-life and pro-choice campaigns. Most
governments in the developed countries have legalized abortion. Many developing and
underdeveloped countries have not legalized abortion and have no control over what is
done by the medical personnel.

Abortion and childbirth complications have been the leading causes of maternal deaths the
world over. With the advent of the 21st century, maternal deaths have declined. This has
been attributed to education on family planning as well as the use of contracept