Many abortion advocates have long argued that abortion is necessary to protect the health and safety of women, since many would otherwise seek unsafe abortions.  But an analysis of data from a new report published by the World Economic Forum has found that countries that permit abortion don't have lower maternal death rates.

In fact, countries with the most restrictive abortion laws also had the lowest maternal death rates, while countries with more permissive laws tended to have higher maternal death rates.

In Africa, the country with the lowest maternal death rate (15 per 100,000) is Mauritius,  which also has the toughest laws against abortion.  The African country with the most liberal abortion laws, South Africa, has a maternal death rate of 400 per 100,000 births.

In Asia, Nepal has no restrictions on abortion and also has one of the world's highest mortality rates (830 per 100,000) while Sri Lanka had the lowest rates in Asia (58 per 100,000) and one of the strictest abortion bans in the world.

In South America,Chile has constitutional protection for the unborn and a death rate of 16 per 100,000.  The highest maternal death rate (430 per 100,000) was found in Guyana, which has almost unrestricted abortion.

Source:  Elliot Institute, PO Box 7348, Springfield, IL 62791