World Wide Status of Women

Each year, 1/2 million women die from pregnancy complications and 100,000 from unsafe abortions.

A pregnant woman in Africa is 180 times more likely to die than in Western Europe.

In the US, a woman is beaten every 18 minutes and raped every 6 minutes. More women are injured in domestic violence incidents than in car accidents, rapes, and muggings put together.

Reports from France indicate that 95% of its victims of violence are women, 51% at the hands of their husbands.

From 1/5 to 1/2 of women worldwide experience domestic violence during marriage.

In several countries, testing for genetic defects is used to determine the sex of an unborn child for the purpose of aborting females only.

Women represent 2/3 of the more than one billion illiterate adults who have no access to basic education. The majority live in rural areas.

On average, by age 18, girls receive 4.4 years less education than boys.

52% of all US women with AIDS are African American.

71% of female headed families living below the poverty level in the US are headed by African American Women.

In 1982, 24% of African American women, 35% of Puerto Rican women, 42% of Native American women had been sterilized, as compared to 15% of white women.

According to a 1991-92 National (U.S.) Women of Color Reproductive Health Poll, 32% of Asian American women said that it would be difficult for them to obtain an abortion because "they don't know where to find one."

In a 1986 US survey, 81% of women who are forced through court order to undergo obstetrical procedures (cesarean sections, hospital detentions, intrauterine transfusions) are African American, Asian or Latina. 24% of these women did not speak English as their first language.

As of 1996, in Washington state, women still earn only 67 cents for ever dollar a man makes. This means Washington ranks 33 among the states for earnings equity. But because salaries are higher in WA than in several other states, WA women’s annual salary ranks 11th in the nation. Statistics according to the Institute for Women’s Policy Studies in Washington DC.

In 1996, 1.5 million people worldwide, including 350,000 children and youth died of AIDS. Of the 30 million people infected with HIV, 2.6 million are adolescent or younger. Most new infections occur in people under age 25.

A recent disturbing trend ... more adolescent girls than boys are diagnosed with HIV, according to the US Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 90% of AIDS cases under age 20 are girls. It is estimated that in the US, one in three girls is sexually abused by the age of 18 and one in for by age 14.

From the Alan Guttmacher Institute, the US accounts for less than 3% of abortions worldwide. There are 50 million abortions worldwide annually, 30 million of them are illegal. 20 million of them are legal. May 1998.

Global Forum: Manipulation of Life - serves as a place for the citizens of the world to discuss challenging issues relating to life, death, health, and basic human values.

A booklet titled Abortion In Law, History and Religion, published by the Childbirth by Choice Trust, describes the status of abortion in most countries of the world, plus explains every major religion's view of abortion. Very thorough.

The World's Abortion Laws - a complete listing.