Private Lives, Public Policies

In the Soviet Union, where contraceptives are both unpopular and hard to obtain, the average woman has six abortions in her lifetime. In Kenya, where a man's wealth is often measured by the number of his children, the average woman bears eight children. In Mexico City, where herbal abortifacients are sold in markets, four out of five beds in the Woman's Hospital are filled by women suffering complications after illegal abortions. In Italy, where abortion has been legal since 1978, Pope John Paul II condemns even contraception, fueling fierce political debate.

An endless variety of laws, restrictions, customs and traditions affects the practice of abortion around the world, although the general trend is toward liberalized laws. The Population Council in New York City this week published a study called Induced Abortion: A World Review, 1981, by Dr. Christopher Tietze, the pre-eminent expert on international abortion. Among its findings: 9% of the world's 4.4 billion people live in countries that totally forbid abortion (among them: Spain, the Dominican Republic and Indonesia); 38% live in nations where abortion on request is allowed, at least in the first trimester of pregnancy; the rest live under laws that allow abortions under conditions that range from saving the mother's life to economic hardship. In the past 15 years, 17 countries (including Canada, India, Norway and Great Britain) have liberalized their abortion laws; in the same period, seven nations (Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Rumania, Iran, Israel and New Zealand) have adopted tougher legislation.

There are still some anomalies in generally liberal Western Europe. In Belgium, abortion is allowed only to save a mother's life. As a result, thousands of women travel a few miles north to The Netherlands, where 75% of the legally restricted but officially tolerated procedures are performed on foreigners. Among their own citizens, the conservative Dutch have the lowest abortion rate of any West European nation.

In Latin America, abortion is legal only in Cuba, but law does not necessarily determine practice. Argentines routinely weekend in Uruguay to shop —and to have illegal but readily available abortions. In Brazil, the government is slowly introducing a national family planning program (in deference to the church, the words "birth control" are not used), while a morbid and lucrative illegal abortion business thrives.

The U.S. provides, through various aid programs, 16% of the world's family planning funds. Even Reagan's budget calls for $253.4 million. No U.S. aid goes for abortions, but right-to-life groups, claiming that family planning promotes abortion, are demanding further restrictions.