THE MIDWIFE ROLE IN ABORTION CARE

Clandestine or unhygienic abortion is one of the five primary causes o f maternal mortality, causing up to 200 000 deaths annually. The medic al complications of unsafe abortion are exacerbated by the standard us e of sharp curettage for uterine evacuation and by the need to transfe r women to the highest level of the health system for treatment. Three ways in which midwives can begin to reverse this trend and improve th e quality and accessibility of abortion care are to perform vacuum asp iration to treat incomplete abortion or for early induced abortion; to recognise the warning signs of incomplete abortion, provide emergency stabilisation and resuscitation, and offer appropriate and timely ref erral for uterine evacuation; and to provide family planning counselli ng and services, particularly to women who have experienced abortion a nd may be at high risk for future unintended pregnancies but are other wise not reached by family planning programmes.