Understanding social work’s role in abortion care: A comprehensive scoping review

Social workers have long played intrinsic roles in abortion care, including counseling, providing access to concrete supports and mitigating barriers to abortion care, and abortion rights advocacy. Social justice and professional ethical commitments underpin social work's role in abortion care. However, existing gaps in abortion education, training, and practice frameworks are impeded by the dynamic legal landscape and stigma attached to people seeking abortion care. Reproductive justice offers a framework, that overlaps with the field's social justice tenets, to raise consciousness among social work students, professionals, and researchers, and to address gaps in abortion education, training, and scholarship.