The Mothers Day Massacre

Up to one million pregnant women worldwide die each year from largely avoidable causes, a Commons international development committee report said .

It warned that for every woman who dies in childbirth in the UK, up to 1,000 die in the poorest countries. For each woman who dies, 30 further women will become disabled, injured or ill owing to pregnancy .

Better access to family planning services alone would cut maternal death and disability by at least 20%, the MPs said.

The report warned that it looked unlikely that the millennium development goal of cutting the number of maternal deaths by 75% by 2015 would be met.

The MPs said there had been little progress in reducing deaths in the last 20 years.