"Pregnancy is not a debilitating illness. Yet every year, thousands of women and girls in Argentina experience entirely preventable suffering because of their reproductive capacity. Many become pregnant due to negligent care that deprives them of the right to make independent decisions about their health and lives. Others are forced to carry life-threatening pregnancies to term because medical providers refuse to provide abortions services that, in these circumstances, are legal. Some choose to seek alternative and at times highly unsafe abortions from unlicensed providers. Others forgo care entirely, and some even die. In 2008, according to Argentina's national health ministry, over 20 percent of deaths recorded due to obstetric emergencies were caused by unsafe abortions. Over the past 10 years, Argentina has accumulated an impressive artillery of reproductive and sexual health related policies. Though they ignore key constituencies such as women with disabilities, these policies would, if implemented, go a long way to overcoming the suffering documented in this report and elsewhere. But the laws and policies intended to benefit women and girls--such as the legal exceptions to the general criminalization of abortion--often go unimplemented. Moreover, the absence of oversight and accountability for this failure indicates that few in authority seem to care. For the state, the resulting and pressing public health concerns such as preventable maternal mortality, unsafe abortion, and unwanted pregnancies, are also costly. The ultimate human consequence of this lack of accountability is suffering, and sometimes even death."--Page 4 of cover.