“Women in India face considerable challenges trying to obtain abortion care, including the limited availability of abortion services in public health facilities,” the Guttmacher Institute’s investigator Susheela Singh, said in a statement. It is India’s first national study of the incidence of abortion and unintended pregnancy, researchers said. Researchers said that close to three in four abortions were achieved using drugs from chemists and informal vendors, rather than from health facilities where proper counseling and health checks should be provided. In addition, the public sector – the main source of health care for rural and poor women – accounted for only a quarter of abortions, partly because many state-run hospitals and clinics do not offer abortion services. “This new evidence provides policymakers with information that is essential for designing and implementing effective reproductive health care programs,” he added in a statement.

Source: The Express Tribune December 12, 2017 15:22 UTC