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What is the News?
The United Nations Population Fund(UNFPA) has released its flagship State of World Population Report 2022 titled “Seeing the Unseen: The case for action in the neglected crisis of unintended pregnancy”.
What are the key findings of the report?
Women’s sexual and reproductive health rights: Only 57% of women are able to make their own decisions over their sexual and reproductive health and rights.
Abortions: Globally, 29% of all pregnancies — both intended and unintended combined — end in abortion. This amounts to an estimated 73 million abortions per year, on average, in 2015–2019.
Lack of Safe, Modern Methods of Contraception: Globally, an estimated 257 million women who want to avoid pregnancy are not using safe, modern methods of contraception.
Rising Unintended Pregnancies: Between 2015 and 2019, there were roughly 121 million unintended pregnancies occurred globally each year.
Factors that contribute to unintended pregnancies: 1) Lack of sexual and reproductive health care and information, 2) Contraceptive options that don’t suit women’s bodies or circumstances, 3) Harmful norms and stigma surrounding women controlling their own fertility and bodies, 4) Sexual violence and reproductive coercion, 5) Judgmental attitudes or shaming in health services, 6) Poverty and stalled economic development and 7) Gender inequality.
Report on India: Unsafe abortions are the third leading cause of maternal mortality in India, and close to 8 women die from causes related to unsafe abortions each day. Between 2007-2011, 67% of abortions in India were classified as unsafe.
– One in seven unintended pregnancies in the world take place in India.
What are the suggestions given by the Report?
a) Invest in the empowerment of women and girls, b) Make health services comprehensive such as providing a comprehensive package of sexual and reproductive health services, prevention of stigma and violence and respect for bodily autonomy, c) End gender-based violence and d) Change harmful social norms and stigmas around contraception.
Source: This post is based on an article “Nearly half of all pregnancies are unintended—a global crisis, says new UNFPA report” published in UNFPA on 31st March 2022.
