The prevention of unplanned pregnancies, part of therefore, provision of family planning information, spacing of pregnancies, in order to let a woman get back to a nutritional level, or at least a haemoglobin level, before she gets the next pregnancy and so on. So while pregnancy is not a disease, but on the other hand, the woman may have problems which result in higher complications. Preventing unwanted or untimely pregnancies is critical in reducing maternal mortality. Complications of unsafe abortions account for 13 percent of all maternal deaths. In some parts of the world, they can cause up to one third of all pregnancy-related deaths.
Abortions are more likely to be unsafe when they are illegal.
But even in countries where they are legalized, notes Dr. Sadik, they are not always performed safely. In the discussion in the ICPD, it was noted that in countries like in India, where in fact, abortion for health reasons was within the law, there were huge numbers of illegal, or unsafe abortions, often because the health service providers were not trained, and so I think, those are areas, that countries, where it is legal, must take action. You've been listening to Women , a weekly programme from United Nations Radio in New York. Thank you for joining us. I'm Bissera Kostova.