Do restrictive abortion laws actually reduce abortion? A global map offers insights

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2022/05/27/ [login to see] /do-restrictive-abortion-laws-actually-reduce-abortion-a-global-map-offers-insigh
In countries where abortion is illegal, are there fewer abortions?

The question sounds simple. But it's tough to answer, says social demographer Jonathan Bearak at the Guttmacher Institute. That's largely because, in places with strict abortion laws, the procedure is almost completely hidden. So estimating the rate of abortions is extremely difficult.

Nevertheless, for the past two decades scientists at the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute have been developing tools to estimate abortion rates around the globe. Both institutions support abortion rights for people worldwide. This past February, they published, for the first time, abortion rates for nearly every country. And they've also updated their analysis looking at how abortion rates vary across regions of the world – and whether the legality of the procedure is associated with those rates.

"So let's say you group together the countries where abortion is broadly legal," says Bearak, who led the study. "And then you group together countries where abortion is completely prohibited altogether, even without exception for the health of the woman."

Which group has the higher abortion rate?