Preventing infection in abortion care
Janesh Gupta MD, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
University of Birmingham, Birmingham Women’s Hospital, England, UK
There is controversy of whether prophylaxis treatment or a “screen and treat” policy should
be adopted for preventing infective complications when women undergo abortion. There is
currently compelling evidence that indicates that a universal policy of prophylaxis
treatment to ALL women undergoing abortion should receive antibiotics. It is also a cost-
effective policy. This is the policy adopted in the UK and the evidence will be presented.
The future would be to expand this service to the legal gestation age of 23+6 weeks. This service has exponentially expanded over the past 3 years to cater for women with complex co-morbidities, which require a multi-disciplinary team involvement. I shall present the unit’s case load, complexities and methods of achieving a safe outcome with the focus for ensuring a high uptake of long acting reversible contraceptives.