Reducing the number of unwanted pregnancies reduces the risk of maternal deaths. The contraceptive prevalence rate is only about 55 per cent leaving the rest of the women exposed to the risk of pregnancy, in many cases unwanted. Unmet need on contraception (limiting and spacing) is 21 per About 16 per cent of girls in the age-group 15-19 have begun childbearing (either have had a live birth or pregnant with the first child).34 The poor status of health of child-bearing adolescents, coupled with physiological immaturity elevates the risk of maternal and perinatal deaths. The adolescent fertility in India is a consequence of early marriage. About 43 per cent of currently married women in the.
