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| Two years after early abortion was legalized, women in Mexico City are receiving safer and higher quality abortion services. |
| David and Lucille Packard Foundation |
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New Ipas research found that women are receiving safer and higher quality abortion services, including family planning, in Mexico City, thanks in part to Ipas training.
Mexico City legalized abortion in April 2007, and women began to seek services at public facilities immediately. Later that year, Ipas trained hospital staff, including doctors, nurses, intake personnel, and social workers on comprehensive abortion care at the second-largest public provider of abortion services in the Federal District; the hospital has provided 13 percent of all legal abortions in public facilities in Mexico City since legalization. Providers were trained on the use of methods for inducing abortion recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) — manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and medical abortion with misoprostol only — rather than dilatation and curettage (D&C). These WHO-recommended methods are less invasive and safer than D&C.
Researcher Erika Troncoso of Ipas Mexico and colleagues analyzed data from 747 case records of clients seeking induced abortion services at this facility in 2007 to 2008 to determine how well services were being provided and the effect of training on quality of care and other outcomes. Hospital records of 444 clients seen prior to training and 303 seen post-training were analyzed.
The study found that a majority of the women who access services tend to be highly educated, young—ages 15 to 24--and single. In addition, four out of five women choose a family planning method after receiving abortion care. Results also show that since the training, changes in the standards of abortion care have been dramatic. D&C, which was previously used in more than half of cases, now accounts for less than a fifth of all procedures. Use of either MVA or medical abortion has soared to more than 80 percent of procedures. “The doctors recognize that by using medical abortion they save a lot of time, avoid long hospital stays, and reduce the costs of services. This means they can attend to more women in less time,” says Raquel Alva, an Ipas Mexico research consultant.
Another important finding is that while 56 percent of the women receiving abortion care at this hospital live in Mexico City, the other 44 percent come from neighboring Mexico State or other states, where legal abortion is still restricted. Many Mexican women outside of Mexico City have little knowledge of abortion laws and may not realize they can now receive legal abortion services in the capital, or where to go for services once they get there.
Improving access to and quality of safe abortion services remains a critical step in reducing unsafe abortion-related morbidity in Mexico and increasing women’s ability to exercise their rights. Follow-up studies are being conducted by the Ipas Mexico team to study barriers to access, private sector abortion services, and clients’ experiences at both private and public sector facilities.
For more information, contact media@ipas.org