November 14, 2012 NEW YORK (Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa)) --
Tens of millions of unplanned pregnancies -- and abortions --
could be avoided in developing countries if women were provided
with more options, information on family planning and means to
use birth control, according to a UN report released Wednesday.
But the annual report by the UN Population Fund said an
estimated 222 million women -- many in the poorest developing
countries -- lack access to the information and health care
services they would need to help avoid unwanted pregnancies.
"The huge unmet need for family planning persists, despite
international agreements and human rights treaties that promote
individuals' rights to make their own decisions about when and
how often to have children," the State of the World Population
2012 report said. "For a majority of people in developing
countries, especially the poorest ones, the power and means to
determine the size of their families are scarce or inadequate,"
the report said. The report noted th