Table 1

Articles included for systematic review (for more detail please see online supplementary Appendix 2)

	Region	Country	Authors	Year	Title/journal	Policy/law	Setting/design/sample	Quality indicators
1	South Asia	Sri Lanka	Arambepola et al.19	2014	Usual hospital care vs post-abortion care for women with unsafe abortion: a case-control study from Sri Lanka BMC Health Services Research	Heavily restricted*36	Nine government hospitals in 8/24 districts of Sri Lanka Quantitative: unmatched case-control study ▸ 171 cases (unsafe abortion) ▸ 638 control Group 1 (spontaneous abortion) ▸ 600 control Group 2 (term unintended pregnancy)	▸ Ethical approval stated ▸ Representation of Muslim and Tamil populations assisting generalisability ▸ Limitations of study not adequately highlighted ▸ No competing interests ▸ Funding stated ▸ Reported findings relevant to review
2	South Asia	Nepal	Rocca et al.21	2014	Post-abortion contraception a decade after legalisation of abortion in Nepal International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics	Legal†37	Two non-government clinics and two public hospitals in Kathmandu and Terai region Quantitative: Prospective cohort study ▸ 838 questionnaires with women post-abortion (baseline and 6 months)	▸ Ethical approval stated ▸ Diverse recruitment sites and large sample assisting generalisability ▸ Limitations of study acknowledged ▸ No competing interests ▸ Funding stated ▸ Reported findings relevant to review
3	East Asia and Pacific	Vietnam	Nguyễn et al.23	2007	Situation analysis of quality of abortion care in the Main Maternity Hospital in Hải Phòng, Viet Nam Reproductive Health Matters	Legal‡36	One public hospital (Phu-San Hospital)Qualitative and quantitative: evaluation ▸ 748 structured survey pre/post-abortion ▸ 20 IDIs post-abortion ▸ 7 informal interviews with healthcare staff ▸ 100 participant observations	▸ Ethical approval stated, informed consent stated as obtained ▸ Quantitative data double entered by two different operators ▸ Limitations of study not adequately highlighted ▸ Competing interests/funding not stated ▸ Reported findings relevant to review
4	Latin America and the Caribbean	Mexico	Becker et al.24	2013	Women's reports on post-abortion family-planning services provided by the public sector legal abortion program in Mexico City International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics	Legal in study setting§36 37	Three government facilities: general hospital, maternity hospital and primary health centre Quantitative ▸ Survey of 402 women seeking first-trimester abortion care	▸ Ethical approval stated, informed consent stated as obtained ▸ Limitations of study discussed and recommendations for future studies given ▸ No competing interests ▸ Funding stated ▸ Reported findings relevant to review
5	Latin America and the Caribbean	Dominican Republic	McCarraher et al.25	2010	Meeting the needs of adolescent post-abortion care patients in the Dominican Republic Journal of Biosocial Science	Strictly illegal¶36 37	Three public hospitals in Santo Domingo and one in La Romana Qualitative: evaluation of intervention Non-experimental pre/post-test design ▸ 88 IDI with providers ▸ 88 IDI follow-up with providers ▸ Survey 140 adolescent PAC patients (12–19 years) ▸ Survey 134 PAC patients (20–35 years)	▸ Ethical approval stated ▸ Limitations of study discussed and recommendations for future studies given ▸ Competing interests not stated ▸ Funding stated ▸ Reported findings relevant to review
6	Sub-Saharan Africa	Kenya	Tavrow et al.29	2012	Age matters: differential impact of service quality on contraceptive uptake among post-abortion clients in Kenya Culture Health & Sexuality	Legal with provisions**37	One private medical clinic Quantitative and quantitative ▸ Data from 1080 post-abortion clients ▸ 2 IDI with doctor	▸ Ethical approval stated ▸ Limited qualitative data, however, it serves to support the quantitative data ▸ Only one study site which impacts generalizability ▸ Limitations of study stated ▸ Competing interests not stated ▸ Funding stated ▸ Reported findings relevant to review
7	Sub-Saharan Africa	Kenya	Evens et al.30	2014	Post-abortion care services for youth and adult clients in Kenya: a comparison of services, client satisfaction and provider attitudes Journal of Biosocial Science	Legal with provisions6 37	Eight public hospitals in Central and Nairobi provinces Qualitative ▸ 283 IDI with PAC clients (structured phone interviews) ▸ 20 IDIs with providers (1 in person, 19 by phone)	▸ Ethical approval not clearly stated for this post-intervention study ▸ Limitations of study discussed and recommendations for future studies given ▸ Competing interests not stated ▸ Funding stated ▸ Reported findings relevant to review
8	Sub-Saharan Africa	Mozambique	Gallo et al.31	2004	An assessment of abortion services in public health facilities in Mozambique: women's and providers' perspectives Reproductive Health Matters	Legal††36 [NB. Abortion was legal with provisions at the time of the study.]	37 public hospitals and four health centres in the 10 provinces of Mozambique Quantitative: interviews with closed-ended questionnaires ▸ 461 interviews with women receiving treatment for abortion-related complications ▸ 128 interviews with providers ▸ 18 interviews with specialised providers	▸ Ethical approval not clearly stated, informed consent stated as obtained ▸ Limitations of study not adequately discussed ▸ Competing interests/funding not stated ▸ Reported findings relevant to review
9	Sub-Saharan Africa	Ethiopia	Tesfaye and Oljira35	2013	Post-abortion care quality status in health facilities of Guraghe zone, Ethiopia Reproductive Health	Legal with provisions‡‡37	26 centres, one public hospital, two non-government hospitals in Guraghe zone Qualitative and quantitative: cross-sectional study ▸ 422 IDIs with women seeking PAC service (client exit interviews)	▸ Ethical approval stated, informed consent stated as obtained ▸ Limitations of study stated ▸ No competing interests ▸ Reported findings relevant to review

*Sri Lanka: abortion is illegal with the explicit exception to save the women's life.
†Nepal: abortion is legal without restriction as to reason during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and thereafter on specific grounds.
‡Vietnam: abortion is legal without restriction as to reason; law does not indicate gestational limit.
§Mexico: federal system in which abortion law is determined at state level; in Mexico City abortion is legal without restriction during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy.
¶Dominican Republic: abortion, for any reason, is strictly prohibited.
**Kenya: abortion is legal to save a woman's life or health or where emergency treatment is needed.
††Mozambique: in 2014 abortion was legalised without restriction as to reason during the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and thereafter on specific grounds. In 2004 when the study was conducted, it was legal only to save the women's life.
‡‡Ethiopia: abortion is legal to save a woman's life, to protect her health or in cases of rape, incest or fetal impairment. Also permitted when a woman is a minor, or physically or mentally injured or disabled.
IDI, in-depth interview; PAC, post-abortion care.