Dhaka, Bangladesh, Aug 24, 2008 / 19:54 pm
Critics have charged a World Health Organization (WHO) initiative with providing the “menstrual regulation” abortion method in countries where abortion is otherwise illegal.
Menstrual regulation, also known as "menstrual extraction," is used by women who missed their regular menstrual period and suspect that they are pregnant but cannot or do not want to wait for the results of a pregnancy test. If the woman is pregnant at the time the menstrual extraction is performed, an abortion results. The evidence of an abortion is either destroyed during the procedure or is easily disposed of, the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute reports.
Since there may not be a pregnancy to terminate, menstrual regulation is sometimes available in countries that prohibit abortion. The procedure is sometimes regarded as a cross between “foresight abortion” and “hindsight abortion.”
Bangladesh has allowed the procedure since the 1970s, establishing it as an “interim method of establishing non-pregnancy” for a woman who could become pregnant.