Intensive movements concerned with the recognition of women´s right to decide about interrupting pregnancy led to a wide spread abortion legalization among the Northern countries, while unsafe practices persist in the others, due to restrictive legislation. Aiming to contribute to the current debate in Brazil, this paper presents a systematic analysis on the issues treated by the specialized literature concerning the restricted access to safe abortion implications for the public health. Pubmed and Lilacs data-bases have been consulted, emphasizing the psi-cosocial aspects associated to unsafe abortion. By using content analysis, four thematic axes were identified: magnitude and impact of abortion showing that harmful consequences related to hospitalization and death due to abortion are characteristic of countries with restrictive law; psychological aspects and contraception among women undergoing abortion, showing that the main differences between women undergoing abortion and the others point out their difficulties to adapt to available contraceptives; strategies to reduce damage related to unsafe abortion, showing that some measures may be effective even under restrictive law; the implications of bioethics to abortion legalization, showing that legalizing depends basically on the women's ability to advocate their interest in the political agenda. The conclusion is that restrictive law affects specially the poor women in the poor countries, perpetrating neglect and inequity.
Safe abortion; equity; women´s health