Frequently Asked Clinical Questions about Medical Abortion


Book Description

This publication contains answers to a range of frequently asked questions on medical abortion services, based on the discussions at an international conference held in Bellagio, Italy in November 2004. By focusing on practical issues, the answers should be particularly helpful to health-care personnel who are considering establishing, or already providing, a service for medical abortion in the early first trimester.




Safe Abortion


Book Description

At a UN General Assembly Special Session in 1999, governments recognised unsafe abortion as a major public health concern, and pledged their commitment to reduce the need for abortion through expanded and improved family planning services, as well as ensure abortion services should be safe and accessible. This technical and policy guidance provides a comprehensive overview of the many actions that can be taken in health systems to ensure that women have access to good quality abortion services as allowed by law.




The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States


Book Description

Abortion is a legal medical procedure that has been provided to millions of American women. Since the Institute of Medicine first reviewed the health implications of national legalized abortion in 1975, there has been a plethora of related scientific research, including well-designed randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, and epidemiological studies examining abortion care. This research has focused on examining the relative safety of abortion methods and the appropriateness of methods for different clinical circumstances. With this growing body of research, earlier abortion methods have been refined, discontinued, and new approaches have been developed. The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States offers a comprehensive review of the current state of the science related to the provision of safe, high-quality abortion services in the United States. This report considers 8 research questions and presents conclusions, including gaps in research.




Clinical Practice Handbook for Safe Abortion


Book Description

The Clinical practice handbook for safe abortion care is intended to facilitate the practical application of the clinical recommendations from the second edition of Safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems (World Health Organization [WHO] 2012). While legal, regulatory, policy and service-delivery contexts may vary from country to country, the recommendations and best practices described in both of these documents aim to enable evidence-based decision-making with respect to safe abortion care.




Medical Management of Abortion


Book Description

Medical abortion care encompasses the management of various clinical conditions including spontaneous and induced abortion (both viable and non-viable pregnancies) incomplete abortion and intrauterine fetal demise as well as post-abortion contraception. Medical management of abortion generally involves either a combination regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol or a misoprostol-only regimen. Medical abortion care plays a crucial role in providing access to safe effective and acceptable abortion care. In both high- and low-resource settings the use of medical methods of abortion have contributed to task shifting and sharing and more efficient use of resources. Moreover many interventions in medical abortion care particularly those in early pregnancy can now be provided at the primary-care level and on an outpatient basis which further increases access to care. Medical abortion care reduces the need for skilled surgical abortion providers and offers a non-invasive and highly acceptable option to pregnant individuals.




Decision Assessment and Counseling in Abortion Care


Book Description

In today’s contentious political environment surrounding abortion, clinicians, counselors and social workers need a clear framework for providing skilled, compassionate decision counseling. They need help working with the hard stuff: “What do I do when my patient asks me if God will forgive her?” or “What do I say when a woman says that she feels like she’s killing her baby?” These are the questions asked by clinicians and mental health professionals everywhere; these are also the questions for which this book offers answers. The fields of healthcare and counseling psychology have long-awaited a manual for conducting pregnancy decision counseling across the spectrum of patient issues, employee skill levels, and clinic resources. Using case examples, individual and group exercises, guided self-reflection, and values clarification, the reader will develop the necessary skills to provide compassionate and informed pregnancy decision counseling. This book will define the gold standard for decision assessment and counseling for all pregnancy options and will be cited as the definitive guide for learning, teaching, and providing high-quality, compassionate counseling in abortion and family planning clinics nationwide.




The Turnaway Study


Book Description

"Now with a new afterword by the author"--Back cover.




Counselling for Maternal and Newborn Health Care


Book Description

The main aim of this practical Handbookis to strengthen counselling and communication skills of skilled attendants (SAs) and other health providers, helping them to effectively discuss with women, families and communities the key issues surrounding pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum, postnatal and post-abortion care. Counselling for Maternal and Newborn Health Careis divided into three main sections. Part 1 is an introduction which describes the aims and objectives and the general layout of the Handbook. Part 2 describes the counselling process and outlines the six key steps to effective counselling. It explores the counselling context and factors that influence this context including the socio-economic, gender, and cultural environment. A series of guiding principles is introduced and specific counselling skills are outlined. Part 3 focuses on different maternal and newborn health topics, including general care in the home during pregnancy; birth and emergency planning; danger signs in pregnancy; post-abortion care; support during labor; postnatal care of the mother and newborn; family planning counselling; breastfeeding; women with HIV/AIDS; death and bereavement; women and violence; linking with the community. Each Session contains specific aims and objectives, clearly outlining the skills that will be developed and corresponding learning outcomes. Practical activities have been designed to encourage reflection, provoke discussions, build skills and ensure the local relevance of information. There is a review at the end of each session to ensure the SAs have understood the key points before they progress to subsequent sessions.




When Abortion Was a Crime


Book Description

The definitive history of abortion in the United States, with a new preface that equips readers for what’s to come. When Abortion Was a Crime is the must-read book on abortion history. Originally published ahead of the thirtieth anniversary of Roe v. Wade, this award-winning study was the first to examine the entire period during which abortion was illegal in the United States, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century and ending with that monumental case in 1973. When Abortion Was a Crime is filled with intimate stories and nuanced analysis, demonstrating how abortion was criminalized and policed—and how millions of women sought abortions regardless of the law. With this edition, Leslie J. Reagan provides a new preface that addresses the dangerous and ongoing threats to abortion access across the country, and the precarity of our current moment. While abortions have typically been portrayed as grim "back alley" operations, this deeply researched history confirms that many abortion providers—including physicians—practiced openly and safely, despite prohibitions by the state and the American Medical Association. Women could find cooperative and reliable practitioners; but prosecution, public humiliation, loss of privacy, and inferior medical care were a constant threat. Reagan's analysis of previously untapped sources, including inquest records and trial transcripts, shows the fragility of patient rights and raises provocative questions about the relationship between medicine and law. With the right to abortion increasingly under attack, this book remains the definitive history of abortion in the United States, offering vital lessons for every American concerned with health care, civil liberties, and personal and sexual freedom.




Complications of Abortion


Book Description

Sets out guidelines that can help reduce the high levels of maternal morbidity and mortality associated with abortion whether spontaneous or induced. Recommendations and advice are backed by extensive practical experience and rooted in the principle that emergency care for the complications of abortion should be available 24 hours a day in every health care system. In view of the need to prevent life-threatening complications the book also establishes standards of safe abortion practice for use in those countries where abortion is permitted by law. Prevention of abortion through education and family planning is likewise discussed. Addressed to health managers administrators and care providers the book follows a step-by-step approach to the provision of emergency and preventive care. The first three chapters describe the magnitude of mortality and morbidity caused by unsafe abortions define the essential components of abortion care at each level in the health system and discuss the ways in which legal and societal factors affect abortion behaviour and care. Against this background the remaining eleven chapters provide technical and managerial guidelines for each component of service at each level of the health system needed to ensure that all women have access to care 24 hours a day. A chapter on planning is followed by three chapters outlining the clinical elements of emergency abortion care. Of particular value is a chapter on patient information and counselling which emphasizes the importance of providing information in a supportive manner. Other chapters offer detailed guidance on the facilities equipment and drugs needed for abortion care on the training and supervision of staff and on ways to overcome several obstacles that make it difficult for women in remote rural areas to receive timely care.