Ms Gladys Brew, National Co-ordinator of Safe Motherhood, said pregnancies should be decisions of choice and not chance, to avoid the many unsafe abortions and their related maternal and infant mortality cases across the country.

She said reproductive health and the use of contraceptive is, therefore, paramount in ensuring that women were protected socially and economically.

Ms Brew was speaking at the opening of the Western Regional office of the Marie Stopes International in Takoradi.

She said contraceptives must be universally available, visible and accessible to women adding, “Unwanted pregnancies should be a thing of the past.”

Ms Dora Kyerwaa, Deputy Director of Nusring Services said, teenage pregnancies accounted for 30 per cent of the number of pregnancies recorded last year, and that interventions were needed to save girls.

Mr Osman Siedu, Regional Manager of Marie Stopes, said for now the facility would focus on reproductive health, increase awareness on unsafe abortion, and the need for contraceptives to reduce maternal deaths.