Some 15.6 million abortions take place in India each year, with the majority of women taking pills at home without adequate counseling, a study said on Tuesday, calling for more trained doctors in public hospitals.
The New York-based Guttmacher Institute's research found that abortions are more than 22 times more common than the government's estimate of less than 700,000 terminations, produced by focusing on state-run hospitals and clinics.
Just over 80 percent of abortions took place at home using drugs like mifepristone and misoprostol, 14 percent were performed surgically in clinics and hospitals, and 5 percent were conducted using other, typically unsafe, methods.