NDUCED, unsafe abortion is a major public health problem affecting the quality of life of women of reproductive age. This issue was given special consideration at the International Conference on Population and Development held in Cairo in 1994. Obtaining accurate data where abortion remains illegal is difficult. Very often, abortion rates are derived by means of estimates. Global estimates of 19 million unsafe abortions and 68,000 deaths annually were made for 2000, and unsafe abortions accounted for 13% of all maternal deaths.1