Relationships between contraception and abortion: the problematic issue of prevention in Latin America
In Latin America, in spite of a high contraceptive prevalence among married women, many unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortion occur. This statement questions the issue of prevention of pregnancy and mainly this of an absence of a preventive culture for men and women. First, these difficulties are analyzed considering the individual barriers to prevention: – the contraceptive practice around an unwanted pregnancy is analyzed through different studies to explain unexpected pregnancies and abortion – the awareness of pregnancy risk pending on social level and the condition of sexuality- and men involvement as actor or barrier in this prevention according to their relationships are considered. In the second place, institutional barriers are considered: barriers coming from conservative or religious groups, health systems or society. Results presented come from the review of the literature on abortion in Latin America and the Caribbean realized from 1990 to 2005 and from some recent publications.