Many of these programs offer contraceptives free or subsidized. Reproductive Health Data for Selected Developing Countries. A Worldwide Assessment of Sexual and Reproductive Health. Population Action International, 1997. When pregnancy results from contraceptive failure or not using contraception, safe abortion is largely unavailable as a backup method.
Abortion is illegal in most poor countries.
For women to exercise reproductive choice, legalizing abortion alone is insufficient abortion services must also be physically accessible and affordable. National Family Planning Programs Strong political leadership coupled with adequate access to family planning services including an array of contraceptive choices and access to safe abortion has led to higher contraceptive use, lower birth rates, and improved reproductive health for women in Thailand, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. The family planning programs in India, Pakistan and China described above were primary concerned with reducing population growth rates, rather than promoting health and reproductive choice for women. Only since the 1994 International Conference on Population and Development have family planning programs been designed with women's rights and the exercise of reproductive choice in mind, an approach that will perhaps herald more success stories from poor countries in the future.