TGHC Breakfast Discussion - Unsafe Abortion as a Key Global Health Issue

THIS MONTH’S TOPIC: Unsafe Abortion as a Key Global Health Issue: What More Can Be Done to Address this Preventable Cause of Maternal Mortality and Morbidity?

In a speech on January 8, 2010, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton outlined critical issues in women’s health globally, including drawing attention to nearly 20 million unsafe abortions each year that are a leading cause of maternal mortality and morbidity. Despite increasing awareness of the health consequences of unsafe abortion, restrictions on development assistance of the US government and some other donors block spending for safe abortion care. Yet other actors in the global health community are increasingly active in efforts to expand women’s access to improved methods and services. Areas for discussion:

• Why unsafe abortion persists despite increased global access to effective modern contraception;
• Current efforts to address unsafe abortion by a number of donors and international NGOs, including TGHC members;
• Additional research needed to address unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion;
• Other avenues for action and strengthened collaboration.

Background reading: (click an item to view the article)
• Speech by Sec of State Clinton, January 8, 2010
• Policy position of the UK government on abortion globally, October 14, 2009
• David Grimes, et al., Unsafe abortion: the preventable pandemic, The Lancet, Vol 368, November 25, 2006: 1908-1919.

Facilitator: Barbara B. Crane, Ph.D., Executive Vice President, Ipas.
Barbara B. Crane, Ph.D., has served since 2000 as Executive Vice President for Technical Leadership and Advocacy at Ipas, a Chapel Hill-based non-profit organization that works around the world to reduce abortion-related deaths and injuries and support women’s sexual and reproductive rights. Prior to that, she was a Senior Policy Adviser in the Office of Population and Reproductive Health of the U.S. Agency for International Development. She has published widely on issues of global health, population and development.

The breakfast forums are scheduled to occur on the fourth Thursday of each month for 2010 (with the exception of February, when it will be on Feb 18).

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