Abstract

Amelioration of postabortion care seeks to reduce morbidity and mortality related to unsafe abortion and prevent the reoccurrence of unwanted pregnancy through beneficial technologies and a woman-centered approach. This article reports changes in postabortion care in a public hospital in the city of Buenos Aires. A quasi-experimental design was applied to evaluate the changes associated to the intervention. In both stages of the study the following data collection techniques were applied: survey of women during postabortion hospitalization, self-administered survey of heath care team, nonparticipant observation of care process. Within the observed results, changes were noticed in the time women had to wait to receive care and to have the procedure performed, and in the provision of contraceptive counseling and methods before the medical discharge. Even though the health care team showed a strong preference for manual vacuum aspiration (MVA) and widely recognized its benefits, the adoption of such technique was not generalized after the intervention.