The issue of abortion invariably throws up several debates involving ethical, moral, medical, social and at times even, religious issues. Few people can refuse or deny a woman the right to discontinue an unwanted pregnancy. Some countries still prohibit abortion. Unfortunately, despite legislation and a liberal MTP Act, abortion is frequently performed in our country under very unsafe or undesirable conditions, resulting in a very high rate of complications.

Several contextual and personal factors such as residence, social support, cultural background, religion, resistance towards abortion and unemployment make the choice of abortion method very difficult for the needy. Fear of exposure, hospital visits, surgery and lack of adequate information about legality and availability of safe abortion further work for the benefit of quacks.

‘The policy of the medical care system should be such than the healthcare providers are able to provide the facilities for a safe, convenient and comfortable abortion network throughout India. Addition of medical abortion to reproductive technology requires less extensive infrastructure and has a greater potential for improving abortion access and safety and is, therefore, a good alternative to the surgical approach.

I would like to add a word of caution here. New techniques can be successful and become acceptable only if they are led by extensive information campaigns. It is important to provide high-quality information on medical abortion that should be accurate, complete and representative. I also hope that this consortium will also look at the physical, emotional and legal aspects of the technical procedure.

Lastly, I believe that there is a need for widespread dissemination of information on contraception methods in the community as the contraceptive methods prevent not only the unwanted pregnancies, reducing the need for abortions but also the sexually-transmitted diseases including HIV infection.

I wish this consortium all success and I hope you will have a very interactive session.