Exploring the costs and economic consequences of unsafe abortion in Mexico City before legalisation

The Cost of Postabortion Care and Legal Abortion in Colombia

“…Although other nontreatment-related costs exist, overhead and capital costs have been shown in previous studies to be responsible for a substantial portion of the economic burden to the health system of providing postabortion care. 13,16,18,31 We were not able to estimate indirect costs for the provision of legal abortion, as these procedures currently represent too small a proportion of the overall caseload at secondary and tertiary facilities to allow for reliable estimates. We thus limit our comparison of the costs of legal abortion and those of postabortion care to direct costs.…”

“…20 In Mexico City, which is more economically comparable to Colombia than are the aforementioned countries, the estimated direct cost of treating an incomplete abortion in 2005 varied from $32 to $68 when the procedure was carried out using D&C at higher-level facilities. 16 If we assume an annual inflation rate of 3%, costs in 2012 would range from $39 to $84 per incomplete abortion treated. These estimates, on average, are substantially lower than the estimated direct cost of treating incomplete abortion in Colombia ($96).…”

“…responsible for about two-thirds of total costs. 16,19,20 To some extent, these indirect costs represent the substantial burden that treatment of abortion complications puts on facilities. It is thus key to reduce the incidence of postabortion complications in Colombia by preventing unsafe abortion through better family planning services and counseling; this will allow facilities to redirect resources to less easily preventable conditions.…”

“…14 This finding has been supported by recent studies in Peru 15 and Mexico. 16 Even fewer studies have compared the cost of postabortion care with that of legal abortion, especially in Latin America. A 2005 Mexican study estimated the cost of postabortion care at three types of hospitals and the cost of safe illegal induced abortions at a private clinic.…”

“…A 2005 Mexican study estimated the cost of postabortion care at three types of hospitals and the cost of safe illegal induced abortions at a private clinic. 16 The investigators found that the cost of providing a safe illegal abortion was less than that of treating abortion complications, and that costs were lower when MVA was used rather than D&C. Several factors explained the latter finding: MVA usually can be done using local anesthesia and, compared with D&C, results in lower operating expenditures and requires less personnel time for patient care after the procedure. To our knowledge, no similar studies have been undertaken for Colombia.…”