AN estimated 6.7 million abortions take place in India every year, mostly by unauthorised medical practitioners, an official of the Bangalore Society of Obstetrics and Gynaecology said on Friday. “More than 80% of these abortions are unsafe,” Sheela Mane, secretary of the society said. “A fifth of the 80 00 maternal deaths that occur globally due to unsafe abortions takes place in India. These abortions result in high mortality rate and morbidity. It is the greatest health risk that Indian women confront,” she said. According to the society, some 20 million of the between 26 million and 53 million abortions in the world every year were unsafe.