Bloomberg News examines abortion laws in Latin America and writes that the region, “home to the world’s strictest abortion laws, may hold lessons for U.S. Republican presidential hopefuls who advocate a ban on the practice” in the U.S. According to Bloomberg, “A consequence of the laws, whatever the moral arguments, is that Latin American women have more ‘unsafe’ abortions per capita than women in any other region, according to the World Health Organization.” The article reports that the U.N. Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on Health Anand Grover recently stated that “[s]trict abortion laws ‘consistently generate poor physical health outcomes, resulting in deaths.'”

The news service recaps several Republican presidential candidates’ positions on abortion policy, examines abortion and emergency contraception laws and their effects in several Latin American countries, and looks at U.S. public opinion on the practice. “Women’s rights activists want the experience of Latin American women to serve as a cautionary lesson for U.S. politicians,” the news service concludes (Krause-Jackson et al., 11/2).