Abstract

PIP: The Safe Motherhood Initiative, launched in 1987, seeks to halve by the year 2000 the estimated 585,000 annual pregnancy-related deaths that occur largely in developing countries from preventable causes such as infection, obstructed labor, hemorrhage, pregnancy-related hypertension, and the complications of unsafe induced abortion. The latter is thought to account for approximately 70,000 of all maternal deaths each year. Treatment of the complications of unsafe abortion also requires a large share of limited health resources and diminishes women's productivity, but efforts to address the issue continue to meet resistance. The 1994 International Conference on Population and Development endorsed the concept of postabortion care, including the provision of family planning counseling and services, and some governments are beginning to understand the need to provide women with a full range of reproductive health services. Some Safe Motherhood programs in Kenya and Ghana are training mid-level providers to manage the complications of unsafe abortion to increase women's access to postabortion care. It is important for those involved in Safe Motherhood Initiatives to share their experiences with abortion care and to help the broader reproductive health community understand how provision of safe abortion care is central to achieving their goals.