Evaluating the impact of safe abortion policies and programmes: a conceptual framework and results from recent field studies

Janie Benson, IPAS
Barbara Crane, IPAS

Millions of women each year seek abortion-related services, and new policies are being adopted in a number of countries to increase women’s access to safe abortion care. Yet public health systems have paid little attention to evaluating the impact of these services and policies. This paper proposes a new conceptual framework for evaluation of the different components of abortion-related programs, addressing both the demand for and supply of safe services. We will discuss the methodological challenges for evaluation of each component, describe feasible evaluation strategies, suggest key indicators to measure progress in program implementation, and present data from evaluation studies in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. These studies include recent health care facility surveys measuring the availability and quality of abortion-related services in Ethiopia, South Africa and India. Finally, we recommend improvements in the resources and infrastructure for evaluation of safe abortion policies and programs.