A/HRC/18/27 D. Addressing unsafe abortion 25. In his Global Strategy for Women’s and Children’s Health, the Secretary-General pointed out that unsafe abortion accounts for one out of every eight maternal deaths; in a statement made on 14 June 2010, the High Commissioner declared that States had obligations to address unsafe abortion. Unsafe abortion is one of the five major causes of maternal deaths.28 Each year, there are around 47,000 deaths and between 5 and 8.5 million women with temporary or permanent disability or injury due to complications.29 26. On the basis of existing international law, several human rights bodies have called on Governments to review and amend restrictive abortion laws.30 In its general recommendation 24 on women and health, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women emphasized that the barriers to women’s access to appropriate health care include laws that criminalize medical procedures only needed by women and that punish women who undergo those procedures, and recommended that legislation criminalizing abortion should be amended in order to withdraw punitive provisions imposed on women who undergo abortion. Similarly, other human rights treaty bodies have declared restrictive abortion laws and failure to ensure access to abortion when it is legal incompatible with international human rights law and amounting to violations of, inter alia, the rights to life and health and the principle of non-discrimination arising from the denial of access to safe and legal abortion and post-abortion care, with a discriminatory, disproportionate impact of restrictive abortion laws on poor, rural women.31 The denial of safe abortion or the penalization of abortion have also been deemed to, in certain circumstances, constitute a violation of the right to be free from torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.32 27. According to WHO, the degree of legal access to abortion co-determines the frequency and related mortality of unsafe abortions, and evidence shows that women who seek abortion do so regardless of legal restrictions. Where there are few restrictions on the availability of safe abortion, deaths and injuries are significantly reduced. 28. According to the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, the absolute prohibition of abortion is an example of how State action can lead to violence against women and have a direct impact on maternal mortality and morbidity, as well as teenage suicides. Women and girls who are forced to continue with unwanted pregnancies commonly face re-victimization by family and society. In cases of pregnancies resulting from rape or incest, women and girls often resort to unsafe and clandestine abortion practices, sometimes with fatal consequences. In some cases, women who have suffered miscarriages or have had complicated deliveries resulting in the death of the child have automatically been accused of homicide and penalized under criminal law.33 29. When practiced by skilled medical professionals in a safe environment, abortion poses very little risk to a woman’s life and health. The obligations of the State include that 28 WHO, “Unsafe abortion: global and regional estimates of the incidence of unsafe abortion and associated mortality in 2008”, sixth ed., pp. 1 and 5. Available from http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/2011/9789241501118_eng.pdf. 29 Ibid., p. 14. 30 See E/C.12/1/Add.66, E/C.12/PRY/CO/3 and CRC/C/15/Add.107. 31 See CCPR/CO/70/ARG. 32 See CCPR/C/79/Add.72, para. 15; CCPR/CO/70/PER, para. 20; and CCPR/CO/82/MAR, para. 29. See also CCPR/CO/79/LKA, para. 12 and CAT/C/CR/32/5, para. 6 (j). 33 A/HRC/17/26/Add.2, paras. 65-68. 9