ArticleConflict and health2016
Why don't humanitarian organizations provide safe abortion services?
Article in Conflict and health, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 30 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
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Who cites it
30 citing papers in PubMed, 68 citations in OpenAlex.
- Estimating abortion incidence and unintended pregnancy among adolescents living in refugee settlements in Uganda.Conflict and health · 2026Article
- Article
- Women's perceptions of person-centered comprehensive abortion care and associated factors in Northern Ethiopia: a facility-based cross-sectional study in a humanitarian setting.Conflict and health · 2026Article
- Determinants of service utilization and satisfaction with sexual and reproductive health services among displaced and migrant populations in Nigeria: a cross-sectional study.Conflict and health · 2026Article
- Availability and readiness to provide postabortion care in refugee settlements in Uganda: a signal functions analysis.BMJ global health · 2026Article
- The Mashujaa Network: youth-driven resilience for reproductive health and safe abortion in conflict-affected communities.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2026Article
- Abortion in conflict zones: moral responsibilities of humanitarian agencies in providing safe abortion care.Frontiers in reproductive health · 2026Review
- Article
- Associations of psychological distress, alcohol and substance use, and HIV risk behaviour in forcibly displaced persons and migrants in Nigeria.Conflict and health · 2025Article
- Estimating the incidence of induced abortion among women in refugee settings in Ethiopia.Conflict and health · 2025Article
- Incidence and safety of abortion in two humanitarian settings in Uganda and Kenya: a respondent-driven sampling study.EClinicalMedicine · 2025Article
- Armed Conflict and Pregnancy Termination: Evidence from Burkina Faso.Spatial demography · 2024Article
- Perceptions and attitudes of Rohingya community stakeholders to pregnancy termination services: a qualitative study in camps of Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.Conflict and health · 2024Article
- High severity of abortion complications in fragile and conflict-affected settings: a cross-sectional study in two referral hospitals in sub-Saharan Africa (AMoCo study).BMC pregnancy and childbirth · 2023Article
- Article
- Article
- Analysing the intersection between health emergencies and abortion during Zika in Brazil, El Salvador and Colombia.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2021Article
- A qualitative study on health care providers' experiences of providing comprehensive abortion care in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh.Conflict and health · 2021Article
- Safe abortion within the Venezuelan complex humanitarian emergency: understanding context as key to identifying the potential for digital self-care tools in expanding access.Sexual and reproductive health matters · 2021Article
- Maternal Health in Crisis: A Scoping Review of Barriers and Facilitators to Safe Abortion Care in Humanitarian Crises.Frontiers in global women's health · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundAlthough sexual and reproductive health services have become more available in humanitarian settings over the last decade, safe abortion services are still rarely provided. The authors' observations suggest that four reasons are typically given for this gap: 'There's no need'; 'Abortion is too complicated to provide in crises'; 'Donors don't fund abortion services'; and 'Abortion is illegal'. DISCUSSION: However, each of these reasons is based on false premises. Unsafe abortion is a major cause of maternal mortality globally, and the collapse of health systems in crises suggests it likely increases in humanitarian settings. Abortion procedures can be safely performed in health centers by mid-level providers without sophisticated equipment or supplies. Although US government aid does not fund abortion-related activities, other donors, including many European governments, do fund abortion services. In most countries, covering 99 % of the world's population, abortion is permitted under some circumstances; it is illegal without exception in only six countries. International law supports improved access to safe abortion. SUMMARY: As none of the reasons often cited for not providing these services is valid, it is the responsibility of humanitarian NGOs to decide where they stand regarding their commitment to humanitarian standards and women's right to high quality and non-discriminatory health services. Providing safe abortion to women who become pregnant as a result of rape in war may be a more comfortable place for organizations to begin the discussion. Making safe abortion available will improve women's health and human rights and save lives.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.