Contraception following abortion and the treatment of incomplete abortion

Abstract

Family planning counseling and the provision of postabortion contraception should be an integrated part of abortion and postabortion care to help women avoid another unplanned pregnancy and a repeat abortion. Postabortion contraception is significantly more effective in preventing repeat unintended pregnancy and abortion when it is provided before women leave the healthcare facility where they received abortion care, and when the chosen method is a long-acting reversible contraceptive (LARC) method. This article provides evidence supporting these two critical aspects of postabortion contraception. It suggests that gynecologists and obstetricians have an ethical obligation to do everything necessary to ensure that postabortion contraception, with a focus on LARC methods, becomes an integral part of abortion and postabortion care, in line with the recommendations of the International Federation of Gynecology and Obstetrics and of several other organizations.

Keywords: FIGO initiative; Incomplete abortion; Long-acting reversible contraception; Postabortion care; Postabortion contraception; Prevention; Unsafe abortion.