Work with the community to prevent unsafe abortions

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HealthWiki > A Book for Midwives > Chapter 22: Helping a woman after a pregnancy ends early > Work with the community to prevent unsafe abortions

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In this chapter:

 

In this chapter:

Much of the information in this chapter is about how to save a woman’s life after an unsafe or incomplete abortion. You can do more to protect women’s health by working to understand and prevent the causes of unsafe abortion in your community.

Think about how things can change so that women will not need to have unsafe abortions. Then work to prevent these unsafe practices in your community. Some midwives have helped teach women about family planning. Others have worked to change community ideas about abortion. Others have worked to change laws. For more ideas, see Hesperian's Health Actions for Women.

Help women and others in the community discuss the shame and fear women feel if they are sick after an unsafe abortion. Work to find community solutions to help more women get the care they need.

Why do women have unsafe abortions here?

It is too hard to get birth control here.

Abortion is illegal unless you have been raped. Who is willing to say that publicly?

The only woman in our village who does abortions does not know how to do them safely.

This page was updated:01 Mar 2024