Indian vice president releases abortion care guidelines

21.04.2010 On April 12, 2010, the government of India released Comprehensive Abortion Care – Training and Service Delivery Guidelines, underlining the government’s commitment toward increasing access to safe abortion services in the country.

The guidelines endorse a comprehensive approach to abortion care and aim to enhance the availability and quality of safe abortion services in the country. They are an updated consolidation of all aspects of service provision including safe technologies – manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and medical methods of abortion – infrastructure requirements, legal information, counseling and pre- and postabortion care, for both first- and second-trimester abortions.

The guidelines also attempt to address the lack of trained providers in the country, and include a section on training protocols, including curriculum and other requirements to enable program managers, and public and private sector doctors to implement and participate in safe abortion trainings. The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) believe this document will aid program managers and service providers in increasing access to high-quality, safe abortion services.

The MoHFW convened an expert group of partners and included representatives from professional organizations, nongovernmental organizations, multilateral organizations, academia, MoHFW and state health systems to draft the guidelines.

Vinoj Manning, Ipas India country director says, “Ipas is glad to have been a part of the expert group and played an active part in developing this document of national relevance. We look forward to working with the Ministry and other stakeholders in translating this commitment into action at all levels of the health system.”

Ipas plans to facilitate wide dissemination of the guidelines to public and private sector providers, program managers and policymakers.