Abortion, reproductive rights and maternal mortality

Overview

The authors make their case for safe, legal, accessible, affordable abortion, as one part of reproductive health services that make all the choices, and information, available to women. Abortion is, they argue, about women’s rights and empowerment, and would reduce incidences of poor health and maternal mortality.

Among the arguments are poor availability and reliability of contraceptives, exacerbated by legal systems. Health services face additional strain providing after-care for harmful abortions.

This article challenges the view that only married women have sex and become pregnant, and that a woman’s chief – or only – role is reproductive, rather than economic.

This article is hosted by our co-publisher Taylor & Francis. For the full table of contents for this and previous issues of this journal, please visit the Gender and Development website.