Abortion, Legal and Otherwise:

Today's New York Times reports on a collaborative study between scientists from the World Health Organization and the Guttmacher Institute, indicating that the legality of abortion has little effect world-wide on whether women choose to have abortions or not. The big difference appears to be that in countries where the procedure is legal women seem to have a much better chance of surviving the procedure.

In addition, the report indicates that in countries where contraception is widely available the rate of abortions is dramatically lower.