Do restrictive abortion laws actually reduce abortion? A global map offers insights
Click to see how restrictive or liberal local abortion laws are — and to look at the rate of abortion. The data offers a sense of whether stricter abortion laws reduce the number of abortions.
In countries where abortion is illegal, are there fewer abortions?
The question sounds simple. But it's tough to answer, says social demographer Jonathan Bearak at the Guttmacher Institute. That's largely because, in places with strict abortion laws, the procedure is almost completely hidden. So estimating the rate of abortions is extremely difficult.
Nevertheless, for the past two decades scientists at the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute have been developing tools to estimate abortion rates around the globe. Both institutions support abortion rights for people worldwide. This past February, they , for the first time, abortion rates for nearly every country. And they've also their analysis looking at how abortion
