It is also vital to women's ability to shape their relationships, including with intimate partners, and to exercise voice and agency in their lives. Improvements in girls' education, declines in infant and child mortality and increased access to modern contraception have paved the way for sharp declines in fertility rates in most regions of the world. Further progress is dependent on greater access to rights-based reproductive healthcare services, which often go hand in hand with overall health systems strengthening (see Box 3.5). Policies to reduce deaths and suffering caused by unsafe abortion are also needed (see Story of Change, "Compassion was a key message").