DONATE NOW

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

Learn More
02
Asset 26

Market Development

Learn More
03

Program
Design

Learn More
04
Asset 9

Social
Enterprise

Learn More

The Four Pillars of our Work in
Safe Abortion

01

We expand access to abortion-related services.

Learn More
02

We expand access to quality abortion products.

Learn More
03

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

Learn More
04

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

Learn More

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

Where are PSI and Partners Adapting Safe Abortion Programs in response to COVID-19?

This map specifically highlights how six international organizations adapted their safe abortion and post-abortion care (PAC) programs to the evolving COVID-19 context. The map captures their stories of resilience, digital innovation, and persistent advocacy to maintain access to safe abortions and PAC during the pandemic. 

Visit our interactive ArcGIS COVID-19 StoryMap. 

COVID-19 Safe Abortion Response Map

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: Transforming the relationship between individuals and health systems

+ Read More

SELF-CARE SRHR INTERVENTIONS: THE IMPACT ON YOUTH AND ADOLESCENTS

+ Read More

Self-Care for Health Systems Sustainability: Paving the Way for UHC

+ Read More

Self-testing a Vital Tool to Achieve Universal Health Coverage and Build a Healthy Future for All.

+ Read More

Case Study: A Digital Health Intervention to Advance SRHR among Youth in Ghana

+ Read More

Our
Experts

Andrea Fearneyhough

Director, Safe Abortion Programming PSI Global
Dr. Eva Lathrop

Dr. Eva Lathrop

Global Medical Director PSI Global

James Ayers

Deputy Director, Safe Abortion Programming PSI
Dr. Milly Kaggwa

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

Identifying Challenges and Taking Action – The Phil Harvey Innovation Award Winners

When Innocent Grant was just 18 years old, he started school to become a doctor. As part of his education, he was sent to his home region in Southern Tanzania to do fieldwork in rural clinics. It was in these remote, under-resourced clinics that Grant says he first became aware of the perils women face in seeking access to safe abortion.

+ Read More

WHAT WE LEARNED FROM PILOTING THE WHO’S SELF-CARE GUIDELINES

With the WHO’s published, Consolidated Guideline on Self-Care Interventions for Health, self-care had been formally recognized as a core strategy for strengthening health systems and advancing universal health coverage, while reducing strain on overburdened health systems.  

+ Read More

A DECADE OF LEARNINGS FOR THE NEXT DECADE OF PROGRESS

Effective, evidence-based advocacy can increase access to quality and voluntary family planning. From its beginning in 2009, the Advance Family Planning (AFP) initiative has aimed  to demonstrate just that. Using the  SMART Advocacy[1] approach, AFP advocates have achieved nearly 3,000 advocacy wins contributed to improved family planning policies, and generated $168 million in funds from national and local governments and the private sector.

+ Read More

4 PRIORITIES TO REACH THE OUAGADOUGOU PARTNERSHIP’S 2030 GOALS

In 2011 – the year the Ouagadougou Partnership (OP) launched—the nine Francophone West Africa (FWA) countries (Benin, Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire, Guinee, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal, and Togo) had some of the lowest contraceptive rates in the world.

+ Read More

THE PRIVATE SECTOR’S CRITICAL ROLE IN LAST MILE MALARIA ELIMINATION

In the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), 70% of the population first seek fever treatment from the private sector, meaning that private providers see most of the malaria cases in the region.

+ Read More

Universal Health Coverage, but not without Family Planning

Family planning is a fundamental pillar in universal health coverage, and in ensuring the well-being of individuals, families, and communities worldwide.

+ Read More

Stay
Updated

Our mission is powered by people like you joining our community.

psi-logo-footer

Your Investment,
Real Impact

92%

Program Expenses

8%

Management, General, Fundraising Expenses

pie-chart-alt
pie-chart
$38.96

is all it takes to give a healthy mother and her child a year of healthy life.

Donate
psi-logo-footer
Facebook-f Twitter Linkedin-in Youtube
Donate
Careers
Resources
1120 19th Street, NW, Suite 600, Washington, DC 20036 P (202) 235-1838 F (202) 785-0120
GDPR Compliance
Privacy Policy
Terms of Use
Contact Us
Anti-Slavery Statement
Integrity and Protection Hotline
Copyright © 2022 PSI

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.

Learn more

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.

Cover

01 #PeoplePowered

02 Breaking Taboos

03 Section Title

04 Section Title

Join PSI at ICFP

icons8-linkedin-circled-240
icons8-twitter-circled-240