“While existing studies provide weak evidence of an association between more flexible abortion laws and reduced maternal mortality, all but one have been conducted within one country and none of the studies take account of confounding variables that change over time such as economic conditions and female education.”

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“In order to fill this gap in research, we conducted an ecological analysis using data from 162 countries on abortion laws and maternal mortality between 1985 and 2013 to estimate the association between the flexibility of abortion laws and maternal mortality at a country level.”

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“Maternal mortality data was available for 183 countries between 1985 and 2013. There were175 countries with data on abortion laws over the same time period. The final sample included 162 countries with information on both abortion laws and maternal mortality between 1985 and 2013.”

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“Our findings that the adoption of flexible abortion laws was associated with a decrease in the countries’ maternal mortality….”

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“Our results are consistent with previous, smaller studies conducted in Nepal, United States, Romania, South Africa, Bangladesh, and Mexico….”

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S.M.Latt, et al

Abortion laws reform may reduce maternal mortality: an ecological study in 162 countries

Biomedical Central Women’s Health – January 5 — 2019