Module 12: Termination of pregnancy

There may be a time during her reproductive years when a woman may feel that she cannot continue with her pregnancy- this may occur for many reasons.  It is likely that health care professionals working in General Practice or Women's Health may be faced with requests for termination of pregnancy. This section will look at the legal situation for abortion services in New Zealand, what is required for the referral process and discuss the possible risks of having an abortion. In countries where abortion is legal and provided by health care professionals, it is very rarely associated with serious morbidity or mortality. In countries where abortion is not legally available, unsafe abortions are a leading cause of maternal death.

We will mainly be looking at first trimester abortion - if you want to get further information about this or 2^nd trimester abortion have a look at the appropriate chapter in your "Introduction to Obstetrics and Gynaecology". We have already looked at a legislation slides in the concepts in contraception section and you might want to also revisit them here. 

Objectives

Readings