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30 Issues L. & Med. 71 (2015)
The Epidemology of Abortion and Its Prevention in Chile

handle is hein.journals/ilmed30 and id is 75 raw text is: The Epidemiology of Abortion And Its Prevention in Chile Elard Koch, M.P.H.* ABSTRACT: Mortality by abortion has continuously decreased over the past fifty years in Chile. In fact, maternal death as a result of an induced abortion has become an exceptionally rare phenomenon in epidemiologi- cal terms (a risk of 1 in 4 million pregnant women of fertile age or 0.4 per 100,000 life births for abortion of any type, excluding ectopic pregnancy). After abortion became illegal in 1989, deaths related to abortion continued to decrease from 10.8 to 0.39 per 100,000 live births. This scientific fact challenges the common notion that less permissive abortion laws lead to greater mortality associated with abortion. Regardless of the legal status of abortion, prevention of induced abortion remains a key objective in most of the western world,1',' and Chile is not an exception to this rule. In fact, Chile has been the subject of an interesting series of epidemiological data and recent research - some of which conducted at our institute - which I will attempt to summarize in this editorial. Mortality by abortion has continuously decreased over the past 50 years in Chile. t3l In fact, maternal death as a result of an induced abortion has become an exceptionally rare phenomenon in epidemiological terms (a risk of 1 in 4 million pregnant women of fertile age or 0.4 per 100,000 live births for abortion of any type, excluding ectopic pregnancy). After abortion became illegal in 1989, 1', deaths related to abortion continued to decrease from 10.8 to 0.39 per 100,000 live births (Figure 1). This scientific fact challenges the common notion that less permissive abortion laws lead to greater mortality associated with abortion .3, 1 Several factors likely contributed to this phenomenon observed in Chile. The most relevant factors that have been identified in recent studies appear to be the decrease in fertility (from 5.0 to 1.8 children perwoman over this 50-year period), increased access to family planning methods starting in 1964,8 the increase in * Epidemiologist, Director of Research, Center of Experimental Embryonic Medicine and Maternal Health, MELISA Institute, Concepcin, Chile. Reprinted with permission. Originally published as Edi- torial, The Epidemiology of Abortion and Its Prevention in Chile, 79(5) REV. CHIL. OBSTET. GINECOL. 351-360 (2014).

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