In providing care for postpartum and postabortion women, health workers must consider the clients' needs for accurate information, empathetic counseling, and accessible services. Workers also must consider how service delivery systems, provider attitudes and client perspectives can affect postpartum and postabortion women's access to contraception and other reproductive health services. And providers must consider women's needs for related reproductive health services. For example, postpartum women also need information about breastfeeding, infant care and nutrition. Clients' needs first While both postpartum and postabortion women need information about family planning, the need is immediate for postabortion women.
Fertility often returns within two weeks following an abortion.
Ovulation generally does not occur during the first six weeks for postpartum women. Consequently, while she may be counseled and given supplies before leaving the hospital, the need is not immediate. Counseling is an important element of quality services. For postabortion and postpartum women, counseling should begin by helping the woman discuss her past contraceptive experiences and identify her future reproductive health needs. When counseling both postabortion and postpartum women, providers should ask the client if she wants future pregnancies and offer information on contraceptive methods if she chooses to delay or space births.