Safe Abortion

Overview

Every year, more than 25 million avoidable unsafe abortions occur. Legal restrictions and a lack of safe options mean that women and adolescent girls unnecessarily risk their health and lives every day. At PSI, we believe that everyone has a right to safe and legal abortion services, products and information, as well as post-abortion care and contraception.

How we
work

01
Asset 17

Consumer
Led

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02
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Market Development

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03

Program
Design

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04
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Social
Enterprise

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The Four Pillars of our Work in
Safe Abortion

01

We expand access to abortion-related services.

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02

We expand access to quality abortion products.

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03

We educate women about safe abortion and help reduce stigma surrounding it.

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04

We engage in policy dialogue and advocacy around safe abortion and post-abortion care.

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Our
Impact

In 2018, PSI’s safe abortion and post-abortion care programs achieved the following impact:

Active in more than

20

countries

Approximately

2 million

women reached

Over

150,000

medication abortion and manual vacuum aspiration services provided

An estimated

6,000

maternal deaths prevented

Our Solutions

PSI helped catalyze the misoprostol market in Tanzania by launching and supporting its first widely available brand of misoprostol. After just a few years, the market went from having an inconsistent supply dominated by one player to having several players compete with high quality, affordably priced products. Now, with the urban market well served, we are pivoting to last mile distribution in rural areas.

PSI is innovating with technology to facilitate referrals and collect feedback to improve the client experience. PSI Cambodia developed a smartphone app that facilitates referrals between pharmacies and clinics for onward client care and post-abortion contraception. In other countries, PSI uses popular communication channels like WhatsApp to help shepherd eligible women through the health system for abortion and post-abortion care.  

In several regions, PSI social enterprises are improving medication abortion sustainability through regional sales operations that offer economies of scale and operate against a double-bottom line that measures health impact and cost recovery.

PSI engages with the public sector in many of the countries in which we work. For example, in Angola, we supported public sector providers in several hospitals to deliver treatment for more than 1,500 post-abortion care cases each month.

Featured Projects

Self-Care Trailblazers Group

Donor: Children’s Investment Fund Foundation; The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

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Piloting an Accompaniment Model to Support Women During Medication Abortion

Donor: The David and Lucille Packard Foundation

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Innovative Models for Medication Abortion Marketing and Distribution

Donor: The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

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Advancing Sexual and Reproductive Health in Niger, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire

Donor: Global Affairs Canada

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Our
Experts

Andrea Fearneyhough

Director, Safe Abortion Programming PSI

Dr. Eva Lathrop

Global Medical Director PSI

James Ayers

Deputy Director, Safe Abortion Programming PSI

Dr. Milly Kaggwa

Senior Clinical Advisor for Africa PSI

Dr. Dorine Irankunda

Francophone/Lusophone Clinical Advisor, Women's Health Project PSI

Latest
Updates

Discover what's happening at PSI

A Safe Abortion in Her Hands

by Maria Dieter, Associate Content Manager, PSI @MariaDeets Ritika Yadav* sat facing her husband, Pradip. They were mid- conversation, speaking quietly as they sat in

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Learn Where Self Care and Healthcare Intersect

by Sandy Garcon, Senior Manager, Advocacy & Communications, PSI On April 2nd, the British Medical Journal (BMJ) and BMJ Global Health launched a series of articles focused on self

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A Call to Action in the Age of #MeToo

By Dázon Dixon Diallo, DHL, MPH, Founder and CEO, SisterLove Inc. In 2006, human rights activist Tarana Burke launched the me too Movement ™ through

+ Read More

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Updated

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Your Investment,
Real Impact

93%
Program Expenses

7%
Management, General, Fundraising Expenses
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is all it takes to give a healthy mother and her child a year of healthy life.

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Got It! Learn More

01

We expand access to abortion-related services.

PSI supports the public sector and our own private provider networks to deliver comprehensive abortion, post-abortion care and contraception services. We use values clarification combined with healthcare ethics as a foundation from which to train providers on clinical procedures and counseling methods, including how to deliver gender-sensitive and youth-friendly services.

PSI provides comprehensive abortion and post-abortion care services in nearly 20 countries throughout the world. Services always include contraceptive counseling and, when voluntarily chosen by the client, the provision of short or long-acting contraception.

02

We expand access to quality abortion products.

We strengthen access to medication abortion through direct product distribution and market facilitation. We bring our own brands into pharmaceutical markets or help expand access to quality brands of other nonprofit organizations and manufacturers. We complement distribution with training and medical detailing for clinicians and pharmacists.

PSI has launched misoprostol and mifepristone-misoprostol combination-pack brands in nearly 20 countries and supported already existing commercial brands in more than 15 countries. Where needed, PSI works to fill unmet needs by directly serving especially vulnerable groups like refugees or commercial sex workers.

03

We educate women about safe abortion and help reduce stigma surrounding it.

We disseminate information directly to women about legal and safe abortion options, post-abortion care, contraceptive methods and when and where to seek follow-up care. We use multiple media channels, creative technology solutions (like smartphone apps, chatbots and hotlines) and interpersonal communication to educate, connect and combat stigma.

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In India, PSI added an augmented reality feature to its medication abortion brand packaging to improve the quality of instructions, decrease potential product misuse and reduce uncertainty. Women can point their smartphone cameras at the medication abortion packaging and an animated video will appear, explaining how to take the medication. Women without smartphones have the option to call a toll-free number to hear instructions.

04

We engage in policy dialogue and advocacy around safe abortion and post-abortion care.

PSI works through coalitions with local stakeholders to improve the enabling environment for safe abortion and post-abortion care.





PSI helped lead the effort to create Nigeria’s first national guidelines for abortion provision. These guidelines dramatically increased access to services, as previously many providers refused to perform abortion due to uncertainty around legality and the health conditions covered by the country’s single indication to save the life of the woman. 

In other countries, PSI has contributed its technical expertise to update national post-abortion care guidelines, registered misoprostol for abortion and post-abortion care-related indications and used harm reduction approaches to soften the ground for expanded access.