Short answers, pulled from the story.
The drug mifepristone entered medical practice in 1980 as a new tool for terminating pregnancies. This medication works in combination with prostaglandin to end pregnancy during the first and second trimesters.
Unsafe abortions result in an estimated 70,000 deaths each year globally. These complications account for approximately one-eighth of all maternal mortalities worldwide.
Soviet Russia became the first country to legalize abortion in 1920 after Lenin insisted that no woman be forced to give birth. Iceland followed this precedent by legalizing abortion in 1935, and Sweden legalized it in 1938.
Deaths from improperly performed procedures constitute 13% of global maternal mortality according to a 2007 study. In Indonesia during 2000, 14% to 16% of maternal deaths resulted specifically from abortion complications.
Pope Sixtus V instituted policy in 1588 labeling all abortion as homicide regardless of pregnancy stage. This pronouncement was reversed by Pope Gregory XIV in 1591.