The Clinical practice handbook for safe abortion care is intended to facilitate the practical application of the clinical recommendations from the second edition of Safe abortion: technical and policy guidance for health systems (World Health Organization [WHO] 2012). While legal, regulatory, policy and service-delivery contexts may vary from country to country, the recommendations and best practices described in both of these documents aim to enable evidence-based decision-making with respect to safe abortion care.

The Clinical practice handbook for quality abortion care is intended to facilitate the practical application of the clinical recommendations from the Abortion care guideline (World Health Organization [WHO] 2022). While legal, regulatory, policy and service-delivery contexts may vary from country to country, the recommendations and best practices described in both of these documents aim to enable evidence-based decision-making with respect to quality abortion care. This handbook is oriented to health workers who already have the requisite skills and training necessary to provide safe abortion and/or treat complications of unsafe abortion. It is neither a substitute for formal training, nor a training manual. We hope this handbook will be useful to a range of health workers in different settings and in varying legal and health service contexts.

At a UN General Assembly Special Session in 1999, governments recognised unsafe abortion as a major public health concern, and pledged their commitment to reduce the need for abortion through expanded and improved family planning services, as well as ensure abortion services should be safe and accessible. This technical and policy guidance provides a comprehensive overview of the many actions that can be taken in health systems to ensure that women have access to good quality abortion services as allowed by law.

Abortion is a legal medical procedure that has been provided to millions of American women. Since the Institute of Medicine first reviewed the health implications of national legalized abortion in 1975, there has been a plethora of related scientific research, including well-designed randomized clinical trials, systematic reviews, and epidemiological studies examining abortion care. This research has focused on examining the relative safety of abortion methods and the appropriateness of methods for different clinical circumstances. With this growing body of research, earlier abortion methods have been refined, discontinued, and new approaches have been developed. The Safety and Quality of Abortion Care in the United States offers a comprehensive review of the current state of the science related to the provision of safe, high-quality abortion services in the United States. This report considers 8 research questions and presents conclusions, including gaps in research.

This multidisciplinary review of abortion is invaluable reading for clinicians and other care providers in the area of women's health.

Telemedicine has recently become a key focus of healthcare systems globally, heavily influenced by the COVID-19 pandemic and the increased need for remote care pathways. Implementing telemedicine can bring myriad benefits for both patients and providers, and has the potential to make a huge impact by improving access to abortion care. In both the United Kingdom and United States, abortion is heavily regulated—exceptionally so when compared to other routine healthcare. This regulation has had the impact of exacerbating the social and geographical circumstances that can make access to abortion services difficult. This book examines telemedical provision of early medical abortion, alongside the access barriers created by laws in the United Kingdom and United States. It critically appraises a series of developments in this rapidly evolving subject, providing an up-to-date and well-informed analysis. In doing so, it argues that there is a moral imperative to introduce, retain, or reinstate (as applicable) telemedical early medical abortion.

Medical abortion care encompasses the management of various clinical conditions including spontaneous and induced abortion (both viable and non-viable pregnancies) incomplete abortion and intrauterine fetal demise as well as post-abortion contraception. Medical management of abortion generally involves either a combination regimen of mifepristone and misoprostol or a misoprostol-only regimen. Medical abortion care plays a crucial role in providing access to safe effective and acceptable abortion care. In both high- and low-resource settings the use of medical methods of abortion have contributed to task shifting and sharing and more efficient use of resources. Moreover many interventions in medical abortion care particularly those in early pregnancy can now be provided at the primary-care level and on an outpatient basis which further increases access to care. Medical abortion care reduces the need for skilled surgical abortion providers and offers a non-invasive and highly acceptable option to pregnant individuals.