Law and policy practice guide for quality abortion care

Overview

Unsafe abortion and restrictive legal environments remain significant contributors to preventable morbidity and mortality, underscoring the need for evidence-based, rights-aligned frameworks to ensure access to quality abortion care. This document presents operational guidance developed to support Member States in reforming, interpreting and implementing laws and policies grounded in international human rights law and principles, in line with the recommendations on abortion care.

The guide outlines a structured, iterative approach to law and policy reform organized into four interconnected phases: understanding the current legal and health context, designing appropriate interventions, implementing reforms, and reviewing outcomes. It examines key considerations such as stakeholder engagement, alignment with human rights standards and the interaction between legal frameworks and health system factors, including common regulatory approaches such as criminalization, gestational limits and third-party authorization. Providing practical, step-by-step considerations and tools, the publication also describes a range of legal and policy instruments and strategies that may be adapted to different national contexts, including incremental reforms, reinterpretation of existing laws and multisectoral coordination. Intended for policymakers, legislators, health system leaders and civil society actors, it supports the development of enabling environments that improve access to safe, acceptable and equitable abortion care.