Zambia has one of the most liberal abortion laws in sub-Saharan Africa. However, rates of unsafe abortion remain high with negative health and economic consequences. Little is known about the economic burden on women of abortion care-seeking in low income countries. The majority of studies focus on direct costs (e.g. hospital fees). This article estimates the individual-level economic burden of...

OBJECTIVE This review aims to provide the latest global and regional estimates of the incidence and trends in induced abortion, both safe and unsafe. A related objective is to document maternal mortality due to unsafe abortion. The legal context of abortion and the international discourse on preventing unsafe abortion are reviewed to highlight policy implications and challenges in preventing un...

BACKGROUND Factors such as poverty, stigma, lack of knowledge about the legal status of abortion, and geographical distance from a provider may prevent women from accessing safe abortion services, even where abortion is legal. Data on the consequences of abortion denial outside of the US, however, are scarce. METHODS In this article we present data from studies among women seeking legal abort...

RATIONALE Most research in mental health and abortion has examined factors associated with post-abortion psychological health. However, research that follows women from before to after their abortion consistently finds that depressive, anxiety, and stress symptoms are highest just before an abortion compared to any time afterwards. OBJECTIVE This finding suggests that studies investigating ps...

BACKGROUND Although repeat induced abortion is common, data concerning characteristics of women undergoing this procedure are lacking. We conducted this study to identify the characteristics, including history of physical abuse by a male partner and history of sexual abuse, of women who present for repeat induced abortion. METHODS We surveyed a consecutive series of women presenting for initi...

Abortion is illegal in Uganda except to save the life of the woman. Nevertheless, the practice is quite common: about 300,000 induced abortions occur annually among Ugandan women aged 15-49 (Singh et al., 2005) and a large proportion of these women require treatment for post-abortion complications. In the male-dominant culture of Uganda, where men control most of the financial resources, men pl...

BACKGROUND Abortion is a serious public health issue, and it poses high risks to the health and life of women. Yet safe abortion services are not readily available because few doctors are trained to provide such services. Many doctors are unaware of laws pertaining to abortion. This article reports survey findings on Malaysian medical students' attitudes toward abortion education and presents a...

BACKGROUND Abortion is a public health concern because of its impact on maternal morbidity and mortality. Each year, about 79 million unintended pregnancies, excluding miscarriage, occur worldwide. More than half of these unintended pregnancies end in abortion. The purpose of this study was to determine the ever-event incidence of abortion (spontaneous and induced) and some related factors in a...