Elective Abortion as a Primary Health Service in Rural India: Experience with Manual Vacuum Aspiration

Age Patterns of Unsafe Abortion in Developing Country Regions

“…The need for readily available information and services for family planning or abortion care is, however, not confined to young people. Women may be unaware that safe abortion services are legally available, 14 even under limited circumstances; they may lack the resources, time or decision-making power to avail themselves of such services; or the services may be inadequate to meet demand. Other inhibiting factors are negative attitudes of health care providers.…”

The costs of drugs and medical care for pregnancy termination. How much is the abortion?

“…Modern medical methods, such as combination regimens of mifepristone and misoprostol or misoprostol alone, are not directly feticidal; the incidence of transient fetal survival after expulsion is related to increasing gestational age and decreasing interval to abortion (51,52). Commonly used pre-procedure regimens to effect fetal demise include (53):…”

“…In addition, women seeking abortion may be expected to pay substantial informal fees (charges made by providers on top of the official health-system charges) which, when combined with travel expenses and opportunity costs such as time lost from paid employment, pose a barrier for many women. The barrier of high costs to women is likely to generate higher costs for the health system, by increasing the number of women who attempt to self-induce abortion or go to unsafe providers and, as a result, require hospitalization for serious complications (52,53).…”

Abortion in Turkey: women in rural areas and the law

“…[22][23][24] MVA is faster, safer, more comfortable, and associated with shorter hospital stay for induced abortion than sharp curettage. 25,26 Additional advantages compared with sharp curettage are its ease of use as an outpatient procedure, the need for less analgesia and anaesthesia, 27 and its lower cost per procedure, especially if done on an outpatient basis. 28 In countries with a small number of physicians, vacuum aspiration can be safely and effectively used by mid-level health service providers, such as midwives.…”