ABSTRACT
Lack of reproductive health constitutes a significant deprivation of well-being in developing countries and yet the field is often marginalised within development studies. This paper seeks to examine the usefulness of the capabilities approach to an analysis of reproductive health in developing countries. It focuses its content on the development of three research questions, the first being primarily theoretical, the second more policy-orientated and the third centering on methodological approaches. With its direct focus on defining development as enhancing people's freedom to lead the life that they value and to access the social opportunities that make that possible, the capabilities framework has strong potential to reinforce efforts to advance reproductive health.
