Women's reproductive rights and social equality in developing countries

The paper presents a cross-national analysis of the relationship between le vels of reproductive rights and social equality in developing countries. On e hundred and one developing countries identified by the World Bank are use d. We find that high levels of social equality are associated with high lev els of marital rights. However, the relationship between levels of social e quality and legal abortion right is weak and insignificant. The interrelati ons among women's reproductive rights, social equality, and religious force s are analyzed.