The publications contains an analysis of health regulation in various countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, designed to assess measure that aid in the implementation of laws enabling the provision of legal abortion services.

The report also sets out a proposed model regulation that includes minimum standards for what is required by governments and health care providers to ensure women’s access to safe, dignified and timely services.  This publication is the first attempt to establish a model regulation based on a comparison of current regulations.

In 2008, our 41 Member Associations in Latin America and the Caribbean provided 29, 819,125 services. We helped improve individual lives, change attitudes and reduce poverty’s grip throughout the region. We drove on rugged mountain roads to serve women living in remote villages, miles from the nearest clinic. We were in the forefront of opposition to restrictive laws repressive policies and that deprive women of their dignity and the right to determine their own reproductive destinies.  We also empowered young people through peer education programs and increased their access to appropriate sexual and reproductive health education, information and services.

The Family Planning Association of Trinidad and Tobago is presenting this interpretation and legal opinion in the hope that it will serve to set out more clearly the circumstances under which a woman may have access to safe and legal terminations of pregnancy in Trinidad and Tobago and so guide actual practice in this important matter of women’s health.

In 2007, the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics (FIGO) initiated a project to conduct situational analyses of unsafe abortion in each country or territory with FIGO affiliated societies; this initiative represents a notable step in the formulation of a global public health response to the issue of Unsafe Abortion and Maternal Mortality. There was a stipulation that no new research should be done, but country groups should collect available information.

A core list of items to be included in the situational analysis of every country was defined, as well as a longer list of items to be collected whenever possible. These form the headings for the various sections of this document.

Furthermore, the FIGO project calls upon health professionals and governments to examine these pressing issues and generate solutions to address the needs of women facing an unwanted pregnancy from a social justice and human rights perspective. The situational analysis conducted in Trinidad and Tobago demonstrates an impressive effort by a range of key organizations and local actors to gather and analyze the available country data on unwanted pregnancy and unsafe abortion.

This
 Fall edition includes articles on IPPF/WHR's lead in the fight for 
sexual rights and our work shaping international youth activists. We 
also highlight donor, Walter Youngquist and an article about the Mexico
 Supreme Court's decision to decriminalize abortion.