First Trimester Abortion Care in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Access to first trimester abortions has increased significantly in the past few decades in low and middle-income countries. Manual vacuum aspiration is now standard of care for procedural abortion and postabortion care. Medication abortion has shifted abortions to being performed earlier in pregnancy and is becoming more widely available with new service delivery strategies to broaden access. Widespread availability of misoprostol has made abortions induced outside of the formal medical sector overall safer. In both legally restrictive and supportive environments, there is increased interested in self-managed abortions as part of a shift towards demedicalizing abortion through task-sharing.