The head of the international body posted on his official Twitter account that, “Women should always have the right to choose when it comes to their bodies and health.”
Thus, the Eritrean physician added: “Restricting access to abortion does not reduce the number of procedures: it drives women and girls to unsafe procedures. Access to safe abortion saves lives.”
For its part, the WHO considers that: “Lack of access to safe, timely, affordable and respectful abortion services poses a risk not only to the physical, but also to the mental and social well-being of women and girls.
Likewise, official figures reveal that almost half of the pregnancies that occur each year globally are unplanned. In this sense, 6 out of 10 are unwanted while 3 out of 10 culminate in an induced abortion.
At the same time, WHO warns that: “Abortion is safe when performed using a method recommended by WHO (…) However, when women with unwanted pregnancies face barriers to obtaining a quality abortion, they often resort to unsafe abortion”.
The statements come against a backdrop colored by an interim document revealing that most of the U.S. Supreme Court justices value outlawing the termination of pregnancy.