POSTABORTION FAMILY PLANNING WITHIN POSTABORTION CARE: A COMPELLING MANDATE
Worldwide, 1 in 4 pregnancies ends by induced abortion, and almost half of the 56 million abortions per year are unsafe.1 For many women, the lack of voluntary postabortion family planning will soon lead to another induced abortion, given that fertility often returns in 2 to 3 weeks after induced abortion and miscarriage.2–4 Postabortion family planning counseling and services must be accessible to all women who present for postabortion care (PAC) as their right and as a moral and professional obligation of providers and programs. Anything less is negligence.
Strong support for universal access comes from international health associations of obstetricians/gynecologists, midwives, and nurses who are committed to making voluntary postabortion family planning a standard of practice in PAC and to working across their professions to optimize services2:
If the woman we treat for postabortion complications is there because she could not get contraception, we have failed her. If she leaves without family planning, we have failed her twice.
Collectively these associations represent more than 10 million doctors, midwives, and nurses providing health care for women in more than 110 countries. Joining them are major donors and policy makers who support health professionals in providing universal access to voluntary postabortion family planning as part of comprehensive maternal health services to achieve the Millennium Development Goals and Family Planning 2020 (FP2020) objectives.5
POSTABORTION FAMILY PLANNING: WHAT WORKS?
The articles in this supplement demonstrate success with postabortion family planning as a component of …