Nearly one abortion for every birth: the figure cannot be used against women

Cuba recorded 64,850 pregnancy terminations in 2025 and 68,064 live births. The ratio was 94.8 abortions for every 100 births, the highest in the series since 1986, according to the Ministry of Public Health's Statistical Health Yearbook. The figure is serious because of what it reveals about reproductive health and demographics; it cannot become a judgment against women.

A national figure does not explain every individual decision. Behind it are life plans, economic conditions, age, health, access to contraception, relationship stability, housing and expectations for the future. Reducing the outcome to a lack of willingness to have children erases those circumstances and places responsibility for a social and institutional crisis on women.

The comparison also requires a methodological clarification. The yearbook says that since 2023 it has included menstrual regulations with a pregnancy diagnosis in abortion statistics. That decision broadens the record, but it requires care when comparing with earlier years that did not count exactly the same events. Even with that qualification, the ratio rose from 90.1 per 100 births in 2024 to 94.8 in 2025.

The problem is not that abortion is legal and safe within the health system. That protection prevents deaths and complications. The problem arises when termination becomes the available option because sex education, sustained access to condoms and contraceptives, primary care or the material ability to choose freely failed earlier.

Independent media and Cuban professionals have documented shortages of condoms, pills and injectable contraceptives. The United Nations Population Fund recognizes that, despite Cuba's historically high prevalence of contraceptive use, unintended pregnancies and sexual-health needs persist among adolescents and young people. A rule prioritizing distribution does not replace the actual availability of a product at a pharmacy or clinic.

The same yearbook presents another alarm. The number of women with up-to-date cervical cytology screening fell from 871,196 in 2018 to 197,457 in 2025, a decline of more than 77 percent. Deaths from cervical cancer rose from 479 in 2024 to 506 in 2025. Vaccination against human papillomavirus is progress, but it does not replace periodic screening for women who are already adults.

Discussing reproductive health requires connecting those facts. Counting births and abortions is not enough if access to each contraceptive method, waiting times, geographic availability, complications and continuity of prevention programs are not measured with equal transparency. The yearbook still uses 2019 data for part of contraceptive use by province, a gap that is difficult to justify in 2026.

The low birth rate will not be resolved through appeals either. In 2025, 3,294 fewer children were born than in 2024. Having a child requires food, housing, transportation, electricity, water, care and a reasonable expectation of stability. A demographic policy that ignores those conditions ends up demanding private sacrifice to compensate for public failures.

The responsible response must expand choices, not narrow them: evidence-based sex education, diverse and continuously available contraceptives, confidential care for adolescents, safe abortion within the law, cytology screening and cancer follow-up. Deciding to have a child, postpone parenthood or not have children should occur with information and resources, not under pressure or scarcity.

The figure of 94.8 terminations for every 100 births is not an accusation against Cuban women. It exposes the distance between public discourse on the birth rate and the real conditions for exercising reproductive health. If the state wants to change the trend, it must begin by ensuring that every woman can make decisions before, during and after pregnancy with dignity, safety and genuine options.