Abortion-related morbidity and mortality. The frequency and severity of abortion complications depends mostly on whether abortion is safe or unsafe. Unsafe abortion, defined by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a procedure for terminating a pregnancy that is performed by an individual lacking the necessary skills or in an environment that does not conform to minimal medical standards, or both, continues to be a major cause of maternal mortality and morbidity worldwide [1]. Although the estimated annual number of deaths from unsafe abortion has decreased substantially from 69,000 in 1990 and 56,000 in 2003 to 47,000 in 2008, and the unsafe abortion mortality ratio has declined from 50 in 1990 to 30 in 2008, the proportion of maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion is stable and continues to represent 13% of all maternal deaths. Most of these cases occur in developing countries; Africa is the region with the highest number of maternal deaths attributable to unsafe abortion [2]. The epidemiology of abortion is covered fully in Chapter 3.