Women experience varying degrees of reproductive freedom on the vast, diverse continent of Asia, which is home to the world’s most populous countries of India and China. Abortion laws are very restrictive in countries such as Bangladesh and Myanmar but more progressive in Vietnam and China. Liberal abortion laws, however, do not guarantee that women can obtain safe abortions. In Vietnam, Cambodia and India, for example, where abortion is permitted on broad grounds, too many women still undergo dangerous abortions performed by illegal, unqualified providers.

About 38,000 women in Asia die each year from complications related to unsafe abortion.^[1] The unsafe abortion rate is higher in the poorer countries of South-central and Southeast Asia than in the wealthier countries of East Asia, such as Japan and South Korea. In South-central and Southeast Asia, the unsafe abortion rate is about 20 per 1,000 women of reproductive age.^[2] Factors that contribute to this alarming incidence of unsafe abortion include limited access to contraception, particularly in rural areas, and an unequal concentration of abortion facilities in urban areas. In some countries, including India – where abortion has been legal for more than 30 years—many women remain unaware of their right to a legal abortion or do not know where to obtain safe services. Ignorance of the law is also surprisingly widespread among health-care providers.

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