106 International Family Planning Perspectives

In recent decades, abortion has received considerable at-tention, and its legality and availability have often gener-ated controversy. Even in countries where abortion is not a contentious issue, contraception is usually a less expen-sive and less taxing means of avoiding unintended births. Accurate information on abortion levels and trends can help donors, policymakers and program planners assess the ex-tent to which women experience unintended pregnancies, and can facilitate the development of policies and programs to respond to unmet need for effective contraceptive ser-vices. Accurate measures of abortion can also inform the public discourse by providing impartial, empirical evidence of abortion prevalence. The last assessment of abortion levels in countries where legal abortion is generally available * was conducted near