The Health Department, in a report sent to the Union Ministry of Health on Tuesday, has noted a steep rise in the number of abortion cases among tribal women in the Attappady settlements in Palakkad district.
The report said “during the last 20 days 10 abortion cases were recorded among tribal women in Attappady.” Eight cases were reported in July, 2013, seven in June, and 11 in May.

Source: The Hindu
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The civic administration's efforts to provide safe abortion to women have shown results as the number of women opting for medical termination of pregnancy (MTP) in the city have doubled in the last two years.
Information dissemination, facilitation and use of safe and easy abortion technique, called Manual Vacuum Aspiration (see box), has not only helped reduce risks caused due to unsafe methods of abortions, but has also helped remove the stigma attached to abortion.

Source: Times of India
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 Acknowledging that maternal mortality rate in the state is 8.9% due to unsafe abortions and around 15,000 women die annually across the nation due to it, the NRHM (National Rural Health Mission) authorities have stressed the need of implementation of safe abortion services at health centres across all the districts of state as per Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act-1971.

Source: Times of India
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Unsafe abortion is still a neglected health issue in India and other developing nations.  IPAS study “Exploring the pathways of unsafe abortion” highlights that an unsafe abortion is killing a woman every two hours. The study was conducted among 380 women in five districts of Madhya Pradesh. From the study it has come out that, more than half of the women (53%) first attempted terminating pregnancy at home and over 90% sought care from a sub-optimal provider (either initially or after attempting abortion at home). This study also documents the first research initiative in India to interview 381 women with post abortion complications, providing interesting insights and information about the pathways of unsafe abortion. 

Source: The Hindu
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