Maternal mortality
New figures from the World Health Organisation (WHO) show that better standard health care is needed to improve survival rates among mothers.
The World Health Statistics 2009 Report shows that the Republic of Ireland, where abortion is banned, has the lowest maternal mortality rate in the world (1 death per 100,000 live births).
In contrast, the maternal mortality rate in other developed countries where abortion is almost totally unrestricted is several times higher than Ireland’s (8 deaths per 100,000 live births in the UK and 11 deaths per 100,000 live births in the US).
Pat Buckley, representing the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: ‘Improved basic living conditions, basic health care, skilled attendants and emergency obstetrics have been the key to decreasing maternal mortality in the developed world’.
She added: ‘The WHO and the United Nations Population Fund have focused on reducing the number of children born, rather than on making childbirth safer. This approach is fundamentally flawed, ideologically driven and ultimately responsible for the deplorable lack of progress’.
