What can obstetrician/gynecologists do to support abortion access?

Unsafe abortion causes approximately 13% of all maternal deaths worldwide, with higher rates in areas where abortion access is restricted. Because safe abortion is so low risk, if all women who needed an abortion could access safe care, this rate would drop dramatically. As women's health providers and advocates, obstetrician/gynecologists can support abortion access. By delivering high-quality, evidence-based care ourselves, supporting other providers who perform abortion, helping women who access abortion in the community, providing second-trimester care, and improving contraceptive uptake, we can decrease morbidity and mortality from unsafe abortion.

Implementation of legal abortion in Nepal: a model for rapid scale-up of high-quality care.

Unsafe abortion's significant contribution to maternal mortality and morbidity was a critical factor leading to liberalization of Nepal's restrictive abortion law in 2002. Careful, comprehensive planning among a range of multisectoral stakeholders, led by Nepal's Ministry of Health and Population, enabled the country subsequently to introduce and scale up safe abortion services in a remarkably short timeframe. This paper examines factors that contributed to rapid, successful implementation of legal abortion in this mountainous republic, including deliberate attention to the key areas of policy, health system capacity, equipment and supplies, and information dissemination. Important elements of this successful model of scaling up safe legal abortion include: the pre-existence of postabortion care services, through which health-care providers were already familiar with the main clinical technique for safe abortion; government leadership in coordinating complementary contributions from a wide range of public- and private-sector actors; reliance on public-health evidence in formulating policies governing abortion provision, which led to the embrace of medical abortion and authorization of midlevel providers as key strategies for decentralizing care; and integration of abortion care into existing Safe Motherhood and the broader health system. While challenges remain in ensuring that all Nepali women can readily exercise their legal right to early pregnancy termination, the national safe abortion program has already yielded strong positive results. Nepal's experience making high-quality abortion care widely accessible in a short period of time offers important lessons for other countries seeking to reduce maternal mortality and morbidity from unsafe abortion and to achieve Millennium Development Goals.

Breaking the cycle of unsafe abortion in Africa.

Globally, nearly half of all maternal deaths from unsafe abortion occur in Africa. Abortion-related deaths and injuries are especially tragic, because when properly performed, abortion is one of the safest of all medical procedures. Factors contributing to this neglected public health crisis include inadequate health care resources and infrastructure, restrictive laws and policies, stigma, and women's lack of empowerment. Actions needed include making high quality abortion care more available and accessible, especially at the primary care level and to the full extent permitted by law. Others include removing medically unnecessary policy and legal restrictions on abortion; and better informing health care professionals, women and communities about the impact of unsafe abortion and the circumstances under which abortion can be legally obtained.