Dr. Gilda Sedgh:

A big determinant of the level of abortion in a country is the proportion of women who need but are not using a method of contraception, whether that be because they do not have access to or actually more often because they face other barriers to choosing a method of contraception. They need options and choices so that they can choose and not just have one method made available to them. They need counselling to help them navigate the side effects that accompany these methods. They think they can avoid getting pregnant because they think they are not having sex as often as other couples so they are operating under this misconception that they are not at risk of getting pregnant. These are some of the reasons that come up very often, both in developed and developing countries.