Table 1 Characteristics of included studies

Aiken 2019 [32]

UK, Northern Ireland

Qualitative individual in-depth interviews (n = 30).

Women in Northern Ireland who had sought an abortion by travelling to a clinic in Great Britain or by using online telemedicine to self-manage an abortion at home.

Aiken 2018 [26]

Ireland

Qualitative individual in-depth interviews (n = 38).

Women in Ireland who had sought an abortion by travelling abroad to a clinic or by self-managing an abortion at home.

Aitken 2017 [27]

Ireland

Cross sectional study (n = 184).

Non-consultant hospital doctors training in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.

Amado 2010 [21]

Colombia

Case series (n = 36)

Women seeking legal advice after being denied a legal abortion or being subjected to unjustified care delays.

Antón 2018 [33]

Uruguay

Times series design (n = 93,762 births).

Data from the Perinatal Information System on planned and unplanned births.

Arnott 2017 [31]

Thailand

Mixed methods: legal analysis, cross sectional survey (n = 32) and individual interviews (n = 6). Informal interviews (n = not reported).

Key informants (government workers, healthcare providers, advocates from the non-profit sector (individual interviews) and members of a safe abortion programme (survey).

Black 2015 [14]

New South Wales and Queensland, Australia

Qualitative individual in-depth interviews (n = 22).

Physicians involved in abortion provision in the two states working in maternal-foetal medicine, sexual health, obstetrics and gynaecology, and family planning.

Casas 2017 [19]

Chile

Legal analysis and qualitative individual interviews (n = 61);

Hotline providers, healthcare providers, women with experiences of “illegal abortions”, their friends, partners and relatives

Clarke 2016 [28]

Mexico

Times series design. Analysis of vital statistics data covering live births (n = 23,151,080) and maternal deaths (n = 11,858) among women aged 15–44).

N/A.

DePiñeres 2017 [22]

Colombia

Qualitative individual in-depth interviews (n = 21) .

Women 16–24 years old who were denied an abortion due to their gestational age.

Diniz 2014 [16]

Brazil

Cross sectional survey (n = 1690) and in-depth interviews (n = 50) with participants who responded to the survey.

Obstetrician-gynaecologists aged 25–84 years affiliated with the Brazilian Federation of Obstetrics and Gynaecology. In-depth interviews were conducted with physicians who had provided abortions for women and girls who had been raped.

Küng 2018 [23]

Great Britain, Colombia, and Mexico.

Mixed methods: descriptive review of publicly available records and individual in-depth interviews (n = 17).

Interviews with key informants which included healthcare providers, academic scholars and representatives of non-governmental organizations.

LaRoche 2021 [15]

Australia

Qualitative individual in-depth interviews (n = 22).

Interviews with women, transgender and gender non-binary persons aged 19–46.

Madeiro 2016 [17]

Brazil

Mixed methods: cross sectional survey (n = 68) and individual in-depth interviews (n = 82).

Survey among 68 institutions providing legal abortion services and interviews with health care professionals (nurses, nurse technicians, physicians, social workers, psychologists).

Maira 2019 [20]

Chile

Mixed methods; qualitative individual in-depth interviews (n = 62), focus group discussions (n = 7) and a survey (n = 136).

Healthcare professionals (physicians, midwives, psychologists and social workers), healthcare union representatives and women.

McLean 2019 [24]

Ethiopia

Individual in-depth interviews (n = 31) and focus group discussions (n = 3).

Healthcare providers, 23–42 years old, involved in any aspect of abortion care including nurses, midwives, physicians, health officers, medical students and a pharmacist.

Mirlesse 2013 [18]

Brazil

Ethnographic observations (n = 80) and interviews (n = 9).

Observations of consultations in ultrasound scan and foetal medicine, prenatal genetics, prenatal paediatrics, and interviews with physicians.

Påfs 2020 [29]

Kigali, Rwanda

Qualitative individual interviews (n = 32) and focus group discussions (n = 5)

Healthcare providers (physicians, nurses and midwives) involved in post abortion care at three public hospitals.

Payne 2013 [25]

Ghana

Qualitative individual in-depth interviews (n = 4) and focus group discussion (n = 1).

Physicians providing abortion care.

Ramos 2014 [13]

Argentina

Mixed methods: Cross sectional survey (n = 157) and individual interviews (n = 27).

Healthcare providers (“physicians and non-physicians”) providing care within obstetrics and gynaecology.

Sahin Hodoglugil 2017 [30]

Rwanda

Mixed methods: review of hospital records (retrospective n = 2644, prospective n = 311), legal records (n = not reported), individual in-depth interviews (n = 22) and focus group discussions (n = 3).

Women aged 18–45 years, key informants including healthcare providers, representatives of courts, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Justice, and civil society organizations.