Improving access to abortion

Reduce maternal morbidity and mortality in developing countries due to abortion complications by providing training programmes for medical personnel in the manual vacuum aspiration abortion technique, with a focus on contraceptive follow-up.

Even where abortion is legal, it is not always available -- the conditions may be too stringent, or the hospitals too few. When abortion was legalized in Zambia, no extra services were provided and because the practice became socially acceptable, the unsafe abortion rate actually increased.

The main drug for inducing abortion, mifepristone, also known as RU486, is indicated for use within nine weeks of the start of a woman's menstrual period. It blocks the hormone progesterone, which is required for establishing and maintaining a pregnancy.

In 2003, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service was seeking permission from the Department of Health to carry out 500 drug-induced abortions at home as a pilot project. The charity carries out thousands of abortions a year, which currently require up to four visits to a hospital or clinic.