Understanding abortion involves more than knowing a medicine name or a clinical definition. A person also has to find understandable information, identify an appropriate service, make practical arrangements and decide what support they want. Country perspectives help us examine those parts of the experience without treating one country as a template for everyone.
A question on your mind?
If pregnancy or abortion information feels overwhelming, you can get in touch. We can help with general questions about the information and guides on this site.
Start with a brief question, without sharing your medical history. We don’t provide diagnosis, prescribing or emergency care. If you feel seriously unwell, seek urgent medical help.
A wider lens on the experience of care
This series looks at the relationship between a healthcare system and the person navigating it. Each article starts with a named source, identifies its country and date, and then explains what the example helps us think about.
A national report can reveal patterns across a population. A service page can explain the intended route into care. A published community story can show how an organization responded to a specific barrier. These are different kinds of evidence; none should be presented as every person’s experience.
Republic of Ireland: making the next step understandable
Our Ireland perspective examines the HSE’s explanation of where to seek care and the role of a named information service. The editorial question is how a clear next step changes the experience of searching for help.
Read the Ireland article through Related reading below. Its source describes the Republic of Ireland, not Northern Ireland, and its service arrangements should not be transferred to the Philippines.
Aotearoa New Zealand: looking beyond national averages
The New Zealand perspective examines the Ministry of Health’s 2025 release about care provided in 2024. It focuses on what travel and service-channel data can tell us, and what a national average cannot explain about an individual.
Numbers need a date, a defined population and a clear comparison. The article separates what the Ministry reported from our interpretation of the questions those findings raise.
Community stories from Peru, Colombia and Uganda
A separate article follows examples published by WHO and the IBP Network in 2023. These are documented accounts of community and service-improvement work, rather than first-person patient testimonials.
The stories offer different lenses: understanding rules, the way staff treat people, and the connection between community information and care. They are historical accounts, not a claim about the complete legal or service situation today.
How we handle personal stories
We do not invent patients, interviews, quotations or clinical outcomes. A published account must be attributed to its original source, and an interview contributed directly to this website would require informed consent and careful privacy protection before use.
A personal account can illuminate an experience, but it cannot establish how common an outcome is or predict what will happen to another reader. We keep that distinction visible, and do not describe another organization’s work as our own experience.