More on the Guttmacher/WHO worldwide abortion study

The Aggie Catholics blog provides the thoughts of a PhD statistician on the recent report published in the Lancet. Some highlights:

-If an abortion takes place in a polity where induced abortion is illegal (or severely restricted), it is deemed as unsafe, even if done so by trained providers. Here is a noteworthy quote: "Moreover, illegal procedures are harmful even when they do not lead to these consequences [death or hospitalization], because they require women to take actions in violation of the law and often without the knowledge or support of their partners or family...."

-The researchers "corrected" some data for under-reporting. The correction inflation was usually about 140%. The US correction factor was 105%; Bangladesh was 300%. Therefore, for countries where abortions are illegal, the total number of abortions was estimated, then inflated, and then all of these were considered unsafe.....

--100% of the abortions in the region including China and North Korea are safe (implying forced=induced & safe).....

-No margins of error were reported for these estimates, even when survey data was utilized.