abortion law, policy
and practice
in transition

vol 12 no 24 supplement

The 1994 ICPD Programme of Action acknowledged the public health imperative to make abortion safe. The Millennium Development Goals for the 21st century called for a reduction in maternal mortality, which includes reducing deaths from unsafe abortion. Many countries are taking these internationally agreed goals seriously and working to bring about change.

This set of 27 peer-reviewed papers, covering 19 countries and global perspectives, is about the progress being made to reform abortion law, policy and practice to benefit women's health and lives.

Papers cover the association between the law on abortion and mortality, age patterns of unsafe abortion, perspectives and attitudes of providers, misoprostol in legally restricted settings, fetal discourses and the politics of the womb, advocating for abortion law reform, and assessments of abortion services and programmes in a range of countries.