Safe and unsafe abortions: Total monetary costs and health care system costs in Argentina in 2018

https://doi.org/10.18294/sc.2019.2275

Published 9 October 2019 Open Access


PhD Economy, post-doctorate in Demography. Associate Researcher at the Centre for Research and Studies of Culture and Society (CIECS), Executive Body of the National Council for Scientific and Technical Research (CONICET), National University of Cordoba (UNC), Cordoba, Argentina. image/svg+xml , Sonia Tarragona Economist, Master’s in Provincial and Municipal Public Finances, specialist in public service regulation. Director of QUANT social innovation. Ex-president and current committee chair of the Association of the Economy of Health (Argentina). Lecturer on the post-graduate degree in Economy of Health, and Director of the Master’s in Pharmacopolitics at the University ISALUD, Argentina. image/svg+xml



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Keywords:

Abortion, Illegal Abortion, Costs and Cost Analysis, Argentina

Abstract


During the first semester of 2018, a profound debate on the legalization of the practice of abortion was initiated in Argentina, which exposed the lack of scientific studies addressing the economic dimension of abortion in this country. This work seeks to move forward in the quantification of the costs of abortion under two scenarios: the current context of illegality and the potential costs if the recommended international protocols were applied in a context of legalization of the practice. The results of the comparison between, on the one hand, the total monetary costs in 2018 (private or out-of-pocket expenditure and costs for the health care system) of the current scenario of illegality and unsafe practice of abortion and, on the other hand, potential scenarios of safe practices, shows that a large amount of resources could be saved if the recommended protocols were implemented. These results proved to be robust after carrying out a series of sensitivity exercises on the main assumptions included in the comparisons.


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