news

A Regional Conference of the Latin American Consortium against Unsafe Abortion (CLACAI) - Lima, June 2009 - discussed the current regional situation regarding unsafe abortion. Some presentations addressed the Mexican experience with the introduction of Medical Abortion in public policies. The evidence shows that if there is a political will, an institutional response and support from civil society, medical abortion can be rapidly introduced in public policies and clinical protocols with a high acceptability among both women and providers. In April 2007, the law was changed in Mexico city, making abortion legal up to 12 weeks of gestation. A consensus meeting gathered public officials, researchers and experts who agreed on a misoprostol regime based on updated scientific evidence and incorporated it into clinical guidelines. Since then, Medical Abortion has been offered up to the 9th week of pregnancy with two Misoprostol doses administered at home (and a third if an incomplete abortion is confirmed in a follow-up visit) both at hospitals and health care centres. Two years later, studies show that public health facilities are providing 1,900 legal abortions per month (0.3% complication rate), medical abortion is being used in 67% of all legal abortions, the majority of women are requesting a legal abortion before 9th week of pregnancy, and women are taking Misoprostol in their homes, following the indications given by physicians.