With the US Supreme Court poised to overturn the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling that legalized abortion nationwide, campaigners for abortion rights from Africa to Latin America are warning of the potentially devastating consequences.

They say the conservative-majority court should consider the impact of anti-abortion measures globally — from deaths like Ann's in Kenya and women being wrongly jailed over miscarriages in El Salvador, to the persecution of abortion rights defenders in Poland.

"My message to the US Supreme Court judges is that they will never end abortion. Women have had and always will have abortions regardless of the law," said Evelyne Opondo, senior regional director for Africa at the Center for Reproductive Rights (CRR).

"All overturning the law will do is end safe abortions," Opondo continued. "Women will turn to unsafe abortions like those done by quacks in backstreet clinics and it will be the poor and marginalized who will be hit most."

Around the world, abortion is completely banned in 26 countries including El Salvador, Honduras, Egypt, Madagascar, and the Philippines, according to CRR.

Another 50 nations only allow abortion when the woman's health is at risk or in cases of rape or incest, the group says.

More than three-quarters of countries have some kind of legal penalties related to abortion, which can include lengthy prison sentences or hefty fines for people having or assisting with the procedure.

Health experts say such restrictions lead women and girls to take desperate measures to end their unplanned pregnancies — from using coat hangers or drinking bleach, to visiting backstreet clinics run by untrained practitioners.

In El Salvador, where abortion has been a crime since 1998 under all circumstances — even in cases of rape, incest, fetal anomalies, or when the woman's health is in danger — scores of women have been sent to jail on abortion charges.

In the last two decades, more than 180 women have been jailed for abortion-related crimes, says the Citizen Group for the Decriminalization of Abortion, a nonprofit.

"Abortion shouldn't be criminalized," said Rodriguez. "Every woman knows their own situation and the truth about what they have gone through."

Campaigners said policies that outlaw or restrict access to abortion have also resulted in high rates of teenage girls having to drop out school due to unplanned pregnancies.

Read the full article about the impact of limiting abortion access by Nita Bhalla and Anastasia Moloney at Global Citizen.