Abortion was legalized in India as back as in 1971, both on medical reasons and on failure of contraceptive methods. Despite of this, today easy accessibility of abortion in rural area is far cry, quality of services provided is questionable and concern of women are often violated because of providers own biases and the social stigma still attached with abortion. 90 percent of the estimated 6 million abortions conducted every year in India are done at unauthorised facilities and mostly by unqualified practitioners. The present paper covering four large states of India ,constituting 40 percent of the India’s population, 61 districts and 380 public facilities approved for providing abortion services, try to explore the availability, access and quality of abortion services in India. Data from 130 private clinics, 1340 private doctors and 133 village health providers further compliment the findings. To assess utilization of the available training facilities and quality of training given, all MTP training centres were also visited. The paper highlights gaps in available facilities, quality of abortion services provided and training and expertise of the providers conducting abortion. Provider’s biases influencing availability of services have also been examined. In the second part of the paper, the programmatic, legal and cultural hindrances in making safe and hygienic abortion services widely available, have been discussed. Some recent initiatives taken by the government to address these issues have also been highlighted. The paper ends up with certain practical recommendations, which need discussion and evaluation to improve abortion services in India.
Learning Objectives: Identifying operational gaps in making safe abortion services avilable in India
Keywords: Abortion, Access and Services
Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.