There is a common myth that gets repeated in the dialogue surrounding abortion -- that making abortion illegal will lead to underground abortions, which will be less safe than legal abortions. A recent study of abortion in Chile calls this premise into question.
From 1931 to 1989, abortion was legal in Chile; after 1989, it became illegal. And since 2001, the rate of hospital discharge for complications due to illegal abortion has been falling steadily, as have deaths related to induced abortion. Discharge rates due to other complications have remained the same.
Summaries of the study can be found on BioEdge (links to the original study in Spanish), one of my favorite news sources, and Science 2.0; sadly, I don’t think I have access to the study in a language I understand.
So what does this prove? Well, proving anything scientifically is a tricky business, so I don’t want to blow this out of proportion. But I think it’s safe to say this data proves that illegal abortion does not lead inevitably to an increased health risk to women due to underground abortions. And while that does not settle any policy questions, it certainly is good news to a pro-woman pro-lifer.
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