In 1994, the United Nations Population Information Network (POPIN) issued guidelines for improving the health of women around the world. In Paragraph 8.25, POPIN proclaimed that, while ultimate goals should focus on preventing unwanted pregnancies through family planning, all nations should ensure that women dealing with such pregnancies be provided with “ready access to reliable information and compassionate counseling” as well as access to safe abortions and follow-up care whenever necessary. The following year, the Beijing Platform for Action, the product of the Fourth World Conference on Women, issued a challenge to world governments, calling on them to “recognize and deal with the health impact of unsafe abortion as a major public health concern,” particularly among the “poorest and youngest who take the highest risk.”

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