Abstract

Barriers to access abortion services globally have led to the development of alternative methods to assist and support women who seek an abortion. One such method is the use of hotlines, currently utilised globally for abortion care. This review aimed to understand (1) how abortion hotlines facilitate access to abortion; and (2) how women and stakeholders describe the impact of hotlines on abortion access. Published quantitative and qualitative studies and grey literature were systematically reviewed alongside an identification and description of abortion hotlines in the public domain. Our findings highlight that the existence of abortion hotlines is highly context-dependent. They may exist either as an independent community-based model of care, or as part of formal care pathways within the health system. Hotlines operating in contexts with legal restrictions seem to be broader in scope and will use innovative approaches to adapt to their setting and reach hard-to-reach populations. All the abortion hotlines that provided information on a data extraction form used evidence-based guidelines but women seeking medical abortion still struggle to access quality medications. There is limited data in general on abortion hotlines, especially on the user and provider experience. Abortion hotlines have the potential to facilitate access to safe abortion care through evidence-based information and to decrease maternal mortality and morbidity from unsafe abortions for women and girls globally.

 抽象的

全球获得堕胎服务的障碍导致人们开发出替代方法来帮助和支持寻求堕胎的妇女。其中一种方法是使用热线电话，目前在全球范围内用于堕胎护理。本次审查旨在了解（1）堕胎热线如何促进堕胎； (2) 妇女和利益相关者如何描述热线对堕胎的影响。对已发表的定量和定性研究以及灰色文献进行了系统审查，同时对公共领域的堕胎热线进行了识别和描述。我们的研究结果强调，堕胎热线的存在高度依赖于具体情况。它们可以作为独立的基于社区的护理模式存在，也可以作为卫生系统内正式护理途径的一部分存在。在受到法律限制的情况下运作的热线似乎范围更广，并将使用创新方法来适应其环境并覆盖难以接触到的人群。所有提供数据提取表格信息的堕胎热线都使用基于证据的指南，但寻求药物堕胎的妇女仍然难以获得优质药物。关于堕胎热线的数据总体有限，尤其是关于用户和提供者体验的数据。堕胎热线有可能通过循证信息促进安全堕胎护理，并降低全球妇女和女童因不安全堕胎而导致的孕产妇死亡率和发病率。