Unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion: Data from men and women in Rajasthan, India

This report is the result of a collaborative project between the Population Council and the Centre for Operations Research and Training, conducted as part of a Council program of research on unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion in Rajasthan, India. Designed as a complement to service-delivery activities being undertaken in Rajasthan by the Indian nongovernmental reproductive health service provider Parivar Seva Sanstha, the program of research aimed to provide a multifaceted picture of the on-the-ground realities related to unwanted pregnancy and abortion in six districts of Rajasthan. Detailed pregnancy histories yielded data on levels of unwanted pregnancy and induced abortion in the sampled areas in Rajasthan. As noted in this report, the legal right to abortion is not a reality for the majority of women in the sample in Rajasthan. Women have strong desires to meet their reproductive intentions, but existing methods of family planning and abortion services are not meeting their needs. According to the report, public information campaigns to educate women, their spouses, and other family members about the legal right to abortion, as well as efforts to revise the Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, are imperative if access to abortion services is to improve