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But despite the legal risks, Latin America continues to experience abortion rates that are much higher than those in most countries where it is legal....
Up to 200,000 illegal abortions take place in Chile every year — twice as many as the total number of annual therapeutic abortions in Canada, which has more than double Chile's 15.8 million population.
The abortion rates are highest in Chile and Peru, where one woman in 20 has an induced abortion. In Brazil, Colombia and the Dominican Republic, it's about one woman in 30. In Mexico, one in 40.
Dr. Ramiro Molina, director of the Centre for Reproductive Medicine and Public Health at the University of Chile, led a 10-year study in three impoverished communities on the outskirts of Santiago.
Clinicians provided direct medical attention for women at high risk of pregnancy. A social worker also called them regularly and worked around their schedules.
They had access to all birth control methods, education, counselling and follow-up visits.
The abortion rate dropped 82 per cent in some communities after this intense grassroots intervention.
Public health advocates cite the study as proof that abortion rates can be lowered through improved availability, delivery and quality of contraception, and the establishment of post-abortion contraceptive counselling in hospitals.
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Casas says she doubts abortion will become a priority for politicians in Chile because it doesn't touch their lives.
"The political elite, or the people who have money, happen to have access to abortions under optimal conditions: a doctor, a clinic, anesthesia ...
"Or they can even go to Miami, to a clinic, so it's not an issue for them. Poor women risk their lives."