ABSTRACT
Roughly 15 per cent of annual maternal deaths that occur in India are due to unsafe abortions. Most of these take place because of low-quality abortion services and poor post-abortion care leading to bleeding, infection and sepsis. Despite a reasonably flexible Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act, most abortions in India are performed outside the legal and public health system, resulting in a high number of unrecorded and unsafe abortions. The authors undertook a study of abortion-related issues in Medak district of Andhra Pradesh. The main objectives of the study were: to assess post-abortion follow-up services provided to women who have undergone abortion in a government hospital and to assess the profile, perceptions and problems of women undergoing abortions in government hospitals. Most women faced complications after abortion. Many women chose the government hospital because they could not afford private hospitals and because they thought government services would be free.
