New UN Data Show Banning Abortion Doesn't Increase Maternal Mortality

The comparison of four countries in the developed world published by the United Nations Populations Division, shows that Russia, with one of the highest rates of abortion in the world, has a maternal mortality rate of 67 deaths for every 100,000 births. The United States, with almost no legal restrictions on abortion but better health care, has a rate of 17 deaths for every 100,000 births.

Ireland, however, where abortion is illegal and with health care comparable to the US, has the lowest rate of the four countries with only 5 deaths for every 100,000 births. In Poland...the rate is 13 deaths for every 100,000 births.

This comes from "The World Mortality Report: 2005" (a PDF file) which reports infant and maternal mortality rates around the world and "is the first report of its kind" from the UN Population Division.