Background
Complications from unsafe abortions account for a large number of the maternal deaths in Nepal.  In 2002, Nepal took a major step forward to improve women’s reproductive health and rights by passing a legislation on women’s right to abortion services. Abortion is now legalised on demand up to 12 weeks. Officially it is also legal up to 18 weeks in cases of rape and incest and at any time in case of severe birth defects or when the woman’s life is in danger. Safe abortion services are now available in Nepal until the 12^th week, but the abortion services for rape and incest victims between week 13 and 18 are still non-existent. Many government officials, stakeholders and community members have been reluctant to implement these services due to religious and social reasons.

About the project
This project was created to initiate safe abortion services for the second trimester (week 13-18) for victims of rape and incest in Nepal. In order to achieve this, the project team applied for approval from the Ministry of Health and then arranged a two-week training for health service providers on performing second trimester abortions. The trainers were from Boston University and IPAS and the participants were senior gynecologists who were all experienced in performing first trimester abortions (week 1-12).

Results
By the end of the project, nine senior gynaecologists from a number of different hospitals had completed the training and performed a total of 23 second trimester abortions during the training period. Going forward, the project team plan on conducting more of these trainings to equip more service providers with the skills to provide second trimester abortions for victims of rape and incest.

Year: 2007