Parturition should be looked upon as a physiological exercise, and ideally the multiparous state should be one of asymptomatic change associated with comfortable function. However, because obstetrics is a field in which serious complications may suddenly occur, the ideal is not always possible. Among the delayed effects of delivery is a group of gynecological complications which may affect the well-being of the woman so involved in later life. Such complications as uterine prolapse, cystocele, rectocele, enterocele, and genital fistula may be the grim aftermath of poor obstetric practice.The article reviews some of the advances in the prevention of maternal mortality and morbidity and emphasizes the important place of intelligent conservative obstetrics in the hands of both general physicians and specialists.