New Study Reveals Women Are Rushing For An Abortion In Countries Hit By The Zika Virus In Latin America

The World Health Organization (WHO) has officially declared the Zika virus a public health emergency. The WHO made the declaration after researchers confirmed that the virus is dangerous for pregnant women and their future babies. Zika can cause a devastating birth defect known as microcephaly.

About 60 countries and territories have reported cases of Zika being spread by mosquitoes. It is said many governments in these areas have advised women not to get pregnant due to the risk associated with the virus. The BBC reports that more than 1,500 babies have been diagnosed with microcephaly.

In Latin America, which has become the epicenter of the current Zika outbreak, a new study has revealed that pregnant women in the region are putting their last hope in abortion in order to avoid giving birth to a baby with a defect.

The study was funded by the National Institutes of Health in the United States, and the National Science Foundation in the United Kingdom. The results of the study have been published in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Abortions (terminating pregnancy) are illegal in many parts of Latin America. Therefore, women have been turning to unofficial sources to terminate their pregnancies. One of these unofficial sources is a nonprofit organization known as Women on Web. Women on Web is an online nonprofit abortion help service for countries where women do not have access to safe abortion services. It advises women online and then delivers pills to terminate a pregnancy. This makes the website the largest used by women from Latin America and other places where there is no access to safe abortion.

The researchers used data from Women on Web to conduct the study. The researchers said they analyzed thousands of requests received by Women on Web in the five years before the Pan American Health Organization issued its warning on Zika on 17 November, 2015.

The researchers then used this to predict how many abortion requests would have been expected between 17 November 2015 and 1 March 2016. The analysis of countries that advised against getting pregnant suggested Brazil and Ecuador had had more than twice the expected demand for abortions. Some results from the study, which we sourced from the BBC, have been featured below.

Dr Catherine Aiken, an academic clinical lecturer in the department of obstetrics and gynaecology at the University of Cambridge who participated in the study, said the situation could be far worse than this because the study was limited to women who had access to the internet.

“There is a huge surge. It’s over 100% increase in demand in some of the countries we looked at almost 110% increase in Brazil. In those countries with no Zika outbreak, there was no such rise in demand. A much, much wider problem with women who don’t have access [to the internet] and live in very poor rural areas and are in very dire straits and will be driven to less safe methods of illegal and underground abortion. We think we are looking at the tip of the iceberg,” she said.

The researchers said their aim for conducting the study is to give a voice to women who are trapped in the epidemic, having nobody to help them.

The researchers published some of the emails sent to Women on Web.

“I need to do an abortion because of the great risk of infection with Zika here … Please help me. My economic situation is extremely difficult,” one woman from Brazil wrote.

Another in Colombia wrote: “Here Zika is a major problem and the health authorities do not help with it … I have no resources at this time and want to ask for your help because fear overwhelms me. What if the baby is born sick?”

Another also wrote from Venezuela saying: “We are going through a really serious situation for the economic and humanitarian crisis unleashed by Zika. There are no treatments, contraceptives nor pills to abort. I want to terminate my pregnancy but I cannot.”

According to Women on Web, the organization is capable of helping women who are less than 10 weeks pregnant to obtain an abortion. This is done after an online consultation with a doctor. Women on Web will then tell women where they can get the pills locally, or even, if necessary, send the pills directly to them by post. However, if the pregnancy is in an advanced stage, it will become difficult for such women to have the abortion.

Due to the fears of the Zika virus, Northern Irish professional golfer Rory McIlroy has officially pulled out of the Olympic Games due to be hosted in the Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro this August. Mr McIlroy said he feels he might contract the virus while in Brazil.

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