Abortion is the medical or surgical termination of a pregnancy, one of the oldest, most common and most controversial medical procedures. There are numerous reasons for a woman to seek an abortion, and about one in four women in the United States will have an abortion before age 45, although abortion rates across the country have been declining.
It was a proud moment for India when its proactive parliamentarians legalized abortion with the historic Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act of 1971, creating a framework meant to protect women from the grave risks of unsafe abortion. Unfortunately, in spite of this legislative protection, unsafe abortion remains the third leading cause of maternal mortality in India, and close to eight women die from causes related to unsafe abortion each day.