Challenges and opportunities in providing post-abortion family planning services

Nahla Abdel-Tawab, Population Council

Provision of postabortion family planning services is a crucial element of postabortion care to prevent additional unintended pregnancies and unsafe abortions. While there are several models for providing postabortion family planning services, research evidence suggests that provision of family planning services on- site is associated with greater acceptance of contraception. This paper reviews main models for providing postabortion family planning services and highlights some of the challenges and opportunities in implementing the on-site family planning model. The paper concludes that onsite delivery of family planning methods may not be appropriate for some postabortion women. All postabortion women should therefore receive family planning counseling on site and be offered a choice of receiving a family planning method on-site or at a family planning clinic of their choice. In addition, a number of recommendations at the policy and at the hospital level are made to enhance effectiveness of postabortion family planning services.