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May 29, 2008
Making Abortions Safer - The Way Forward
Liz Maguire speaks at the Delhi workshop.

Why do women suffer from the complications of unsafe abortion in a country where abortion is broadly legal? That was the topic of “Making abortions safer – the way forward,” an Ipas-organized workshop held in Delhi, May 5-6, 2008. This workshop brought government officials, senior members of the Federation of Obstetric and Gynecological Societies of India, donors and other public-health leaders together to increase access to safe abortion services throughout India. More than 50 participants from five states attended the workshop, the first organized by Ipas India, to discuss their experiences and plans for improving the reproductive health of women in that country.

Unsafe abortion endangers 4 million women in India every year, damaging the health and future fertility of thousands and causing an estimated 15,000 preventable deaths. Although abortion up to 20 weeks of gestation has been legal in India for 36 years, safe abortion services are not readily available, especially for poor and rural women. Women’s access to safe abortion services is limited by a lack of trained providers and sites equipped with the appropriate technology, especially in rural areas; additionally, many women are not aware that safe services are available and legal. Stigma and secrecy surrounding abortion add to this serious public-health problem.

Workshop participants outlined three proposals to increase women’s access to abortion services: train more health-care providers; expand the use of appropriate and safe technologies, including medical abortion; and make women, communities, and policy makers  more aware of the legality, availability and importance of safe abortion services. The participants discussed strategies to achieve these proposals, including accelerating the training of doctors; modifying India’s laws to allow nurses to provide abortion care; improving training for postabortion care; and increasing access to safe methods of medical abortion.

Speaking at the event, Elizabeth Maguire, Ipas president and CEO said, “I am heartened by the resolve of workshop participants to accelerate the pace of change and undertake a series of actions to expand the availability of safe abortion services and enable women to prevent and manage unwanted pregnancy.” Maguire added that “India, as one of the first countries to legalize abortion, should take a leadership role in ending unsafe abortion.”

A senior delegation of representatives from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and the states of Madhya Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Maharashtra, Uttarakhand, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh participated in the workshop. Ipas Executive Vice President Mary Luke, as part of a week-long visit to India with Maguire, also spoke about global strategies to expand access to safe abortion. Representatives from the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development, the Packard Foundation and the MacArthur Foundation also attended the workshop.

Ipas has been working since 2001 to make abortions safer and more accessible to women in India. Ipas’s India program focuses on strengthening training systems for comprehensive abortion care; improving early abortion service delivery in primary health-care settings; researching abortion issues; making early abortion technologies like manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and medical abortion more available; and advocating for policy change to improve women’s reproductive rights and health. Ipas India has helped provide training for more than 1,500 doctors and helped establish about 900 new sites to provide abortion services.

For more information, contact:
Kirsten Sherk
Senior Associate, Media Relations
e-mail: sherkk@ipas.org
phone: 919.960.5612
fax: 919.929.0258