Reproductive rights: how to move forward?

One way of addressing ethical issues in reproductive health is to look at the consequences of current laws, policies and practices and see whether the existing situation gives rise to a preponderance of good or bad consequences. If the bad consequences outweigh the good ones, there is an ethical obligation to seek to change the laws, policies or practices. The data on maternal mortality and morbidity in developing countries make it uncontroversial to state that the harmful consequences for women of inadequate family planning programmes and of laws far outweigh the beneficial consequences. -Ruth Macklin, "Ethics and Reproductive Health: A Principled Approach"