Expanding Access to Safe Abortion Care Through the Community Distribution of Misoprostol

Every year about 44 million abortions take place worldwide. Roughly half of these abortions occur in legally restricted settings and are unsafe. As a result, unsafe abortion is a major contributor to maternal mortality and morbidity. Tens of thousands of women die and millions more suffer disabilities from unsafe abortion each year; women in the Global South, and in particular women in low-resource and conflict-affected settings, are the ones who bear the burden of this global health inequity.