The Guttmacher Institute today announced a new online calculator to generate estimates demonstrating the transformative impact of expanding access to safe abortion services around the world. The Safe Abortion Calculator, released at the Women Deliver conference in Melbourne, Australia, offers policymakers, budget planners and advocates in many countries the powerful evidence that protecting the right to safe abortion care not only improves health outcomes, but it is also a smart, cost-saving investment. The calculator has an accompanying analysis that outlines how to put the tool’s estimates into practice.
Key points:
- Guttmacher’s Safe Abortion Calculator computes potential return on investment in safe abortion care for 117 low- and middle-income countries.
- The annual cost to treat complications of abortion across those countries is $1.56 billion, with the vast majority of all abortion complications resulting from unsafe abortions.
- Investing an additional $666 million annually in safe abortion services would reduce these costs by $1.39 billion—a more than two-to-one return.
“Tens of millions of people each year face the potentially devastating and completely preventable consequences of unsafe abortion,” said Elizabeth Sully, Guttmacher’s Director of International Research. “The world has repeatedly declared that safe abortion is a human right, but these essential services are too often deprioritized. The Safe Abortion Calculator delivers the evidence that safe abortion care is a vital public health service that delivers a huge return on investment.”
About 48 million abortions occurred in 2024 in the low- and middle-income countries included in the calculator’s analysis, both where the procedure is broadly legal and where it is restricted. Abortion is very safe when performed using an appropriate method and offered by a trained provider, and also when women have access to accurate information and quality medications needed to manage an abortion themselves. When safe services are unavailable, postabortion complications such as hemorrhage, infection, long-term pain and infertility can occur. Providing safe abortion care is better for patients, better for providers and better for health budgets than relying on after-the-fact emergency treatment.
The new Safe Abortion Calculator builds a specific, clear and evidence-based investment case for safe abortion care. Users can select a geographic region or one of 117 low- and middle-income countries and instantly see:
- the current share of abortions provided through safe abortion care,
- the number of patients needing postabortion care, and
- the current cost to the health care system to provide that care.
With a simple slider tool, users can then model what happens when safe abortion access expands: The number of people experiencing complications drops and cost savings grow.
The calculator makes the tremendous short-term returns on safe abortion provision abundantly clear. Investing in safe abortion care in 117 low- and middle-income countries to ensure near-universal access would result in an overall annual cost savings of $728 million, given that providing all abortions safely would sharply reduce the cost of treating postabortion complications. Savings vary for individual countries, based on the costs of providing abortion care and the proportion of people having abortions who currently receive safe abortion care.
“Around the world, expansion of safe abortion care has been driven by committed defenders of human rights,” said Destiny Lopez, Co-CEO of the Guttmacher Institute. “At a time when health and development budgets are shrinking, the Safe Abortion Calculator will give advocates an additional tool that demonstrates sexual and reproductive rights aren’t just integral to human rights, they are also a smart investment.”
National governments have repeatedly committed to protect access to safe abortion services as a fundamental human right, in joint statements through regional bodies such as the African Union, Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean, Pacific island nations and the Southern African Development Community, as well as from global parliamentarians. Yet, two-thirds of abortions in 2024 in the 117 countries in the analysis were considered unsafe (32 million out of 48 million total abortions). In today’s context of severe global health funding shortfalls, leaders may believe that they cannot afford to do more to safeguard the right to safe abortion. The Safe Abortion Calculator counters this notion, showing that in this case, fulfilling human rights results in economic gains.
The Safe Abortion Calculator serves as a companion to Guttmacher’s Family Planning Investment Impact Calculator. Both tools reinforce existing evidence that contraception and safe abortion care are among the most cost-effective health interventions. These services not only reduce direct health system costs, they also expand women’s economic opportunities and financial autonomy, helping to grow national economies.
About the Safe Abortion Calculator
The Safe Abortion Calculator is powered by data drawn from Guttmacher’s 2024 Adding It Up study. It defines safe abortion care as provided by a trained provider using an appropriate method recommended by the World Health Organization. This may include self-managed abortion, in settings where access to accurate information, counseling and services is available within the formal health care system. The costs of postabortion and safe abortion care measured by the calculator include drugs and supplies, staffing, and program and system costs such as infrastructure, management and training. Data availability on safe abortion care varies considerably and the calculator provides estimates based on subregional averages for most countries. Further details on the methods and underlying data are available in the calculator’s FAQ and methodology.
About the Guttmacher Institute
The Guttmacher Institute is a leading research and policy organization committed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights worldwide.