NEW DELHI: The recent decision of the Union Health and Family Welfare Ministry to allow the sale of "emergency contraceptives" over the counter has been welcomed by health experts and women's groups, who said this would prevent unwanted pregnancies.

More importantly, it would help avoid abortions, most of which are carried out under unsafe conditions.

Emergency contraceptives in the form of pills and intra-uterine devices (IUDs) are particularly helpful in cases of unprotected and forced sex, and greatly reduce the chances of pregnancy.

Earlier, they were sold only under prescription, but now they can been obtained freely from a chemist.

High maternal mortality

In India, 29 million births take place every year.

With only 32 per cent women receiving full antenatal care, the high birth rate puts women under severe risk. In addition, an estimated 11.2 million abortions take place annually, of which 6.7 million are induced, generally under unsafe conditions.

All this results in high maternal mortality, estimated at 407 per 10,000 live births.

Only 48.2 per cent of the couples use contraception, according to Sudha Tewari, managing director of the Parivar Seva Sanstha.

This is due to a lack of information, and availability of and accessibility to a wider range of safe and effective options.

This called for a nationwide effort to create conditions where users were allowed wide and free access to information and contraceptives of their choice, Ms. Tewari said.

According to Madhu Bala Nath of the International Planned Parenthood Federation, half the women in India were unable to refuse sex with partners, including their husbands, and had little control over their reproductive function.

Hence, there was a need for allowing the free sale of emergency contraceptives.

Ms. Tewari said there was an equal need for irreversible or terminal methods and reversible or spacing methods. Of the 48.2 per cent couples using contraception, 38 per cent adopted sterilisation, 3 per cent used condoms, 2 per cent used pills, and 1.6 per cent used IUDs, while 5.4 per cent were dependent on traditional methods.

Female sterilisation accounted for 34 per cent of the irreversible methods of contraception, while only 2 per cent of men went in for sterilisation.

Reversible methods

"While there is a need to improve the quality of services provided for female sterilisation and step up its availability in the Government sector, there is also a need to improve the acceptance of the reversible method," Ms. Tewari said.

Of the reversible methods available, the usage of condoms is 3 per cent, particularly among HIV/AIDS groups, with the distribution figures touching 1,800 million annually.

Oral pills (two per cent) are the second most commonly used and their distribution figures cross the 120 million mark annually.

This is the most widely used family planning method adopted globally.

The use of injections and IUDs is insignificant in India, though high in other countries.

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