The effectiveness of preabortion contraception counseling

To demonstrate the impact of preabortion counseling followed by immediate postabortal provision of the chosen method on postabortion contraceptive use.

Three hundred and forty-two women undergoing voluntary termination of pregnancy at less than 10 weeks gestation were enrolled at the Woman and Child Health Training and Research Clinic, Medical School of Istanbul. Clinic visits and telephone surveys were performed to measure contraceptive use at 6 months following abortion.

Two hundred and thirty-six women either visited the clinic or responded to the telephone survey. Eighty percent of the respondents reported use of a modern contraceptive as compared to less than 40% prevalence found in the national survey.

Preabortion counseling combined with immediate postabortal provision of contraceptives may significantly increase contraceptive use at 6 months postprocedure.