Contraception and abortion in Romania

After the downfall of the Ceausescu regime in December, 1989, the new Government of Romania abolished the law that prohibited abortions on request. Subsequently, the rate of legally induced abortions increased significantly while the rate of maternal mortality declined dramatically. Despite the large number of women who request induced abortions, most women and gynaecologists say that they would prefer to prevent unwanted pregnancies through the use of modern contraception. In this paper we examine factors that contribute to the disparity between women's desire to use modern contraception to prevent unwanted pregnancies and their practice of having induced abortions to prevent unwanted births. The results show that women (and suggest that men) need a wide choice of dependably available high-quality contraceptives; they need to be able to obtain information, counselling, and methods from a wide range of sources/health-care providers; both women's and men's perceptions about, and use of, modern contraception could be positively affected through sexual education started in secondary school; and, to reduce repeat abortions, women's post-abortion family-planning needs must not be neglected.