Objective: This study aimed to determine how women in Kinshasa, DRC who had an abortion in the last 10 years navigated the process of seeking information about their abortion options, and the role their social networks played in that process.

Methods: Using data from a mixed-methods study of abortion in Kinshasa conducted between December 2021 and April 2022, the authors carried out 52 in-depth qualitative interviews with women who reported having had an abortion in the prior 10 years, drawn from a larger representative survey conducted by Performance Monitoring for Action. Interviews followed a structured guide covering information-seeking practices, decision-making, and abortion care trajectories, and were analyzed using inductive thematic analysis in Atlas.ti to identify major themes and subthemes.

Results: Thematic analysis identified two main themes. The first showed that women engaged in a highly selective and narrow information search, often involving no one or very few strategically chosen individuals such as partners, women in their community, or providers. The second showed that these interactions were heterogeneous and often stigmatizing, including attempts at deterrence and information of varying completeness and accuracy. The authors conclude that while the recent liberalization of DRC’s abortion law is essential for improving access to safe abortion, public health gains will not materialize unless accompanied by community-level actions to raise awareness about the legality and availability of safe abortion services, including medication abortion pills for safe self-managed abortion.