New UK aid support for the Safe Abortion Action Fund (SAAF) will give some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable women and girls access to safe abortion.

It will also give urgent care and counselling for women dealing with the often devastating consequences of unsafe abortion and improve their access to contraception and family planning services.

Unsafe abortion disproportionately affects the world’s most vulnerable women and girls, with 97% occurring in the world’s poorest countries.

International Development Minister Baroness Sugg said:

We know that when girls and women can access all the information and safe healthcare services they need, lives are saved and unsafe abortions are prevented.

Limiting women’s choice only increases the number of unintended pregnancies. Restricting access to abortion doesn’t mean it happens less frequently, it just makes it less safe.

This UK aid funding can make the crucial difference between giving women and girls access to safe options or forcing them to resort to unsafe alternatives.

Millions of women and girls in developing countries still can’t get the contraception they tell us they want. It’s either too expensive, too difficult to access, particularly in remote, rural areas, or too taboo. Myths and stigma mean there is often a lack of information about contraception or safe abortion options.

As a result, 89 million women in developing countries will get pregnant, without wanting to, each year. Of these 25 million will resort to dangerous, painful backstreet abortions which can leave girls and women severely ill, disabled, or even cost them their life.