Technical Areas
Postabortion Care (PAC): Meeting Women's Health Care Needs After Miscarriage And Unsafe Abortion
Each year approximately 500,000 women die as a direct result of pregnancy. Complications from abortion resulting from unplanned pregnancy are a primary cause of these deaths.
Complications can occur after miscarriage or unsafe abortion and may require access to quality services equipped to provide lifesaving drugs, transfusions and other interventions. Globally, the highest rates of unsafe abortion occur among married women between 20 to 24 years of age. Further, a mother's death from complications of pregnancy and labor is associated with increased risk of infant and child mortality and other detrimental effects on her family. For example, data from Bangladesh suggest that a child who has lost his mother is 10 times more likely to die before his tenth birthday than a child whose mother is alive.
PAC is affirmed by the Bush Administration. The press release accompanying President Bush's Memorandum of January 22, 2001 restoring the Mexico City Policy stated that "[t]he President's clear intention is that any restrictions do not limit organization from treating injuries or illnesses caused by legal or illegal abortion, for example, post-abortion care (PAC)." Today USAID funds PAC programs in more than 20 countries in 4 regions.
What is "Postabortion Care" (PAC)?
Obstacles to Care
Frequently Asked Questions About PAC
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