Abortion rate steady in poor nations, plunging in rich ones

LONDON (AP) — The rate of abortions in the developed world has dropped to an all-time low while remaining steady in poorer regions, where nearly 90 percent of the abortions worldwide occur, researchers say in a new study published Wednesday in the journal Lancet.

"Family planning services do not seem to be keeping pace with the increasing desire for smaller families," said Gilda Sedgh of the Guttmacher Institute, a U.S. research group that supports abortion rights and the paper's lead author.

"The obvious interpretation is that criminalizing abortion does not prevent it but rather drives women to seek illegal services or methods," wrote Diana Greene Foster of the University of California in San Francisco, in an accompanying commentary.

Women in other studies have said that was because they feared the side effects of contraception methods or were worried about the stigma of not being married when seeking birth control.