Safe Abortion

Safe Abortion

We believe comprehensive family planning includes access to safe abortion. Our research on safe abortion is designed increase access by expanding those who provide care and removing barriers to service. We aim to provide safe, high-quality services that are affordable and acceptable to people who need them, and as close to their homes as possible.

Current Research

Innovation through telemedicine to improve medication abortion access in Musanze, Rwanda

Telemedicine provides a unique opportunity to increase access to abortion care in Rwanda by task-shifting the provision of medication abortion while still complying with law that states only medical doctors can authorize abortion services. In this project, nurses/midwives in public health centers in Musanze District are providing first trimester medication abortion services by using telemedicine to connect with district hospital doctors for authorization. This project tests the implemention of a high tech project design in a low technology setting; providing critical evidence for policy makers and program planners in Rwanda on the safety, feasibility and acceptability of medication abortion provision in health centers using telemedicine.

Recent Publications

Shining the light on abortion: Drivers of online abortion searches across the United States in 2018

Ndola Prata; Sylvia Guendelman; Elizabeth Pleasants; Elena Yon; Alan Hubbard
Journal Article, 2020

Do perceived contraception attitudes influence abortion stigma? Evidence from Luanda, Angola

Ndola Prata; Madeline Blodgett; Karen Weidert; Benjamin Nieto-Andrade
Journal Article, 2018

Medical society engagement in contentious policy reform: the Ethiopian Society for Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ESOG) and Ethiopia’s 2005 reform of its Penal Code on Abortion

Sarah Jane Holcombe
Journal Article, 2018

Past Projects

Operationalization of Exemptions for Legal Abortion in the Rwandan Penal Code

The penal code was revised in Rwanda in 2012 allowing legal termination of pregnancy resulting from rape, incest, forced marriage, or on medical grounds. To facilitate operationalization of the revised penal code, the Bixby Center, in collaboration with other partners, conducted health system research which included 3 components: training & orientation, community sensitization and prospective monitoring of service provision, and data collection. An evaluation was conducted to assess women's access to abortion services as part of an ongoing program to operationalize the new exemptions for legal abortion.