Kathmandu: UNFPA, the United Nations sexual and reproductive health agency, has warned of the global implications of new restrictions on access to abortion.

Whether abortion is legal or not, it happens all too often. Data show that restricting access to abortion does not prevent people from seeking abortion, it simply makes it more deadly, said UNFPA in a statement.

As UNFPA’s 2022 State of World Population report reveals, nearly half of all pregnancies worldwide are unintended, and over 60 percent of these unintended pregnancies may end in abortion. A staggering 45 percent of all abortions around the world are unsafe, making this a leading cause of maternal death, reads the statement.

Almost all unsafe abortions currently occur in developing countries. UNFPA fears that more unsafe abortions will occur around the world if access to abortion becomes more restricted. Decisions reversing progress gained have a wider impact on the rights and choices of women and adolescents everywhere, it said.

The 1994 program of action of the International Conference on Population and Development, signed by 179 countries, including the United States, recognized how deadly unsafe abortions are and urged all countries to provide post-abortion care to save lives, irrespective of the legal status of abortion. The UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly the goal related to maternal health, to which all UN member states have committed, are at risk of not being met if unsafe abortions continue, reads the statement.

The U.S. Supreme Court on Friday overturned Roe v. Wade, a landmark decision that established a constitutional right to abortion in the nation nearly 50 years ago.