Maternal mortality in Sierra Leone is one of the highest in the world and complications from unsafe abortion are one of the leading causes. This article reports the results of a 2012 study to assess the impact and costs of treatment of abortion complications on the country’s public health system, and estimate the costs of a shift to safe, legal abortion. The study concludesdthat a shift to safe, legal abortion would dramatically reduce the current costs of PAC.

This brief examines the key results from expanding abortion service provision to midlevel providers in 10 Ipas country programs throughout Asia and Africa, including a global analysis of programmatic data from all 10 countries and two case studies (Ethiopia and Bangladesh).