- Abortion legal status
- Illegal
- Emergency contraception
- Over the counter
- Emergency number
- 911
Updated July 2026 · Sources cited: travel.state.gov, osac.gov
Good to know
Good to Know
- Ecuador's official currency is the US dollar, so local and USD prices for contraceptives are identical figures.
- Public health centers (MSP) give out emergency contraception, pills, IUDs, and implants for free and without needing ID/residency documentation — this applies to visitors and undocumented people too.
- Emergency contraception ('la pastilla del día después') can be bought over the counter at any pharmacy in Quito without a prescription — no need to see a doctor first if you just need it quickly.
- If you call ECU 911, do not hang up until staff end the call, and be prepared that response capacity for gender-violence calls can be stretched thin — a follow-up in-person report at a Centro de Equidad y Justicia or the Fiscalía is a good backup.
- The 1800-DELITO line (1800 335486, option 4) is specifically set up for reporting violence against women, separate from the general 911 line.
- Ecuador's official currency is the US dollar, so all local medical costs are already in USD — no currency conversion is needed.
- Abortion access in Ecuador is legally limited to two grounds — risk to the pregnant person's life/health, and rape — and is not available on request; the rape-ground process is meant to be fast (verbal/written request, no police report needed, decision within 4 days) but real-world implementation varies by provider.
- If you need a private, English-language gynecologist visit while in Quito, providers explicitly advertising English service (like Dr. Denis Sánchez) or multilingual practices (like Dr. I-Li Huang) can reduce language-barrier stress compared to a general walk-in clinic.
- Large private hospitals (Hospital Metropolitano, Axxis Hospital, Hospital de los Valles) are the standard fallback for hospital-level obstetric/gynecologic emergencies for foreigners in Quito, since Ecuador's public system is far more stretched.
- Misoprostol is technically pharmacy-available by prescription in Ecuador, but obtaining a prescription can be difficult and buying it without one carries a real risk of counterfeit or mis-dosed product.
Street, Night and Taxi Safety
Street Harassment
The U.S. State Department notes, for Ecuador as a whole, that women and girls may experience verbal or physical harassment in public spaces, especially on public transportation. In Quito specifically, U.S. government security reporting (OSAC) describes the Mariscal Sucre district — a popular tourist area around Plaza Foch — as an area increasingly associated with crime, with reported incidents ranging from petty theft and sexual assault to shootings. This is a Quito-specific finding rather than a nationwide one.
Walking Alone at Night — Areas of Concern
U.S. government security reporting for Quito specifically flags the crowded streets of south Quito, El Panecillo, the Historic District, and the areas of El Tejar, Parroquia San Sebastián, Avenida Cristóbal Colón, and González Suárez as places to stay particularly alert for crime. Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs separately names La Mariscal, a neighborhood popular with tourists and nightlife, as an area that can be particularly dangerous, citing reports of foreign nationals being attacked, robbed and sexually assaulted there. Both sources advise exercising more caution in these specific areas after dark rather than avoiding the whole city.
Taxis and Ride-hailing
The U.S. State Department advises against hailing taxis on the street in Ecuador and recommends ordering taxis by phone, using app-based transportation services, or using a service affiliated with a hotel. U.S. security reporting specific to Quito describes a pattern called secuestro express, in which armed accomplices intercept a taxi shortly after a passenger gets in, rob the passenger, and force them to withdraw cash from ATMs, with some incidents escalating to physical or sexual assault. Registered Ecuadorian taxis are typically yellow with orange license plates and a visible taxi-cooperative name on the door, which can help distinguish them from unregistered vehicles.
Drink Safety and Nightlife Precautions
The State Department's Ecuador advisory warns that incapacitating drugs such as Rohypnol and scopolamine have been used to facilitate both violent and non-violent robberies and sexual assaults, and recommends never leaving food or drinks unattended and never accepting drinks from a stranger. This guidance is issued at the national level rather than specifically for Quito, but Quito's nightlife district around Plaza Foch is one of the areas U.S. security reporting separately flags for a concentration of crime. Traveling in groups in nightlife settings is recommended as a mitigating step.
Buses and General Precautions
The State Department advisory states that intra- and inter-city bus passengers in Ecuador are often targets of crime, including robbery and sexual assault — guidance given for the country generally rather than Quito alone. Ecuador's advisory separately tells women travelers to exercise enhanced precautions when traveling alone, at night, or in isolated locations, since sexual assault, domestic violence, and femicide are described as common nationally. Practical steps repeated across sources include keeping valuables out of sight, using offline maps so you aren't visibly lost or wandering in unfamiliar streets, and confirming accommodation has secure, staffed entry.
Abortion Law And OB-GYN
Abortion Law
- Access Route Rape
- To access a legal abortion on the rape ground, no police complaint or forensic medical exam is required — a verbal or written request is sufficient, minors do not need parental/guardian authorization, and the law sets a maximum 4-day period to process the request. Health professionals must maintain confidentiality, and a conscientious-objector doctor must refer the patient onward rather than block care.
- Regulatory Status
- illegal
- Abortion Time Limits
- Under LORIVE, voluntary interruption of pregnancy due to rape is limited to 12 weeks of pregnancy (measured from last menstrual period), except for people with a mental disability, for whom no fixed limit applies and 'best medical practices' govern the decision instead. This 12-week limit has been the subject of ongoing constitutional litigation and could change.
- Legal Status Summary
- Abortion in Ecuador is criminalized as a general rule, with two narrow legal exceptions: when continuing the pregnancy poses a danger to the life or health of the pregnant person that cannot be avoided by other means, and when the pregnancy results from rape. It is not available on request at any pregnancy stage.
- Access Route Life Health
- For the life/health ground, a prior medical diagnosis is required and a request must be submitted to public or private health services, which are obliged to review and resolve non-urgent cases within 6 days.
- Harm Reduction And Support
- A feminist support organization (Sukurna), which accompanies sexual-violence survivors seeking abortion care, has documented that survivors who contacted them still encountered barriers accessing care even when they met the legal requirements — so expect potential friction with individual providers or facilities even where the rape exception legally applies.
- History And Current Framework
- Since 1938, Ecuador only permitted abortion under very restricted conditions, specifically, when the pregnancy posed a risk to the pregnant person's life or health, or in cases of rape involving people with mental disabilities. In April 2021, the Constitutional Court (Case 34-19-IN/21) decriminalized abortion in all cases of rape, not just for people with mental disabilities, ruling that the prior law was unconstitutionally discriminatory. Following that ruling, the National Assembly passed a regulating law (LORIVE) in 2022, but a presidential veto introduced stricter limitations, including shorter abortion time limits and additional procedural requirements, and some of those limits have since been challenged and partly eased by the Constitutional Court.
- Medication Abortion Note
- Misoprostol (marketed as Cytotec, 200mcg) is on Ecuador's basic medicines list and can technically be obtained at pharmacies with a prescription, but in practice prescriptions are hard to get and unregulated/unprescribed purchase carries real risk of counterfeit or incorrectly dosed product and misinformation about proper use.
- Practical Note For Visitors
- Outside the two legal grounds, abortion remains a criminal offense in Ecuador, and enforcement/stigma has historically fallen hardest on the poor, young, and indigenous women; foreign visitors should not assume informal access or leniency.
OB-GYN Options In Quito
Dr. Denis Sánchez
- Area
- La Pradera / González Suárez area (near La Carolina/Mariscal)
- Type
- Private OB/GYN practice, English-language service explicitly offered
- Address
- Torre Alemania, Alemania N30-10 y Eloy Alfaro, Quito
- Notes
- Marketed specifically as an English-speaking gynecologist option for expats/visitors; offers routine check-ups, prenatal follow-up, ultrasound, contraception counseling, and describes 24/7 availability for urgent gynecologic/pregnancy concerns.
Dr. I-Li Huang
- Area
- Quito Norte (Mariana de Jesús / Nuño de Valderrama area)
- Type
- Private OB/GYN practice at CITIMED medical center
- Address
- CITIMED, Consultorio 243, Quito
- Notes
- Consults in Spanish, English, Mandarin Chinese, and Taiwanese; trained at Hospital Gineco-Obstétrico Isidro Ayora and teaches OB/GYN at USFQ; handles prenatal care, deliveries, C-sections, and general gynecologic care.
San Gabriel / Nicolás Arteta Area, Central-north Quito
- Name
- Hospital Metropolitano — multiple OB/GYNs (e.g., Dr. Byron Argoti Echeverría, Dr. Francisco López Armas/CLINICFEM)
- Type
- Major private hospital with an OB/GYN department and affiliated specialist consulting rooms
- Notes
- One of Quito's principal private hospitals with multiple gynecology/obstetrics specialists holding consulting rooms on-site; a common referral point for expats needing hospital-level obstetric or gynecologic care.
Axxis Hospital — Multiple OB/GYNs (Torre Materno Fetal)
- Area
- Av. 10 de Agosto / Av. Vozandes area, Quito Norte
- Type
- Private hospital with a dedicated maternal-fetal medicine tower
- Notes
- Houses several gynecology-obstetrics specialists in its own maternal-fetal tower, including doctors with subspecialties in maternal-fetal medicine.
- Area
- Cumbayá (Interoceánica km 12.5) — outside central Quito, in the Cumbayá nomad/expat hub
- Name
- Hospital de los Valles — multiple OB/GYNs (e.g., reproductive medicine subspecialists)
- Type
- Private hospital, popular with the expat community based in the Cumbayá/Tumbaco valley
- Notes
- A well-regarded private hospital for nomads and expats based in Cumbayá/Tumbaco rather than central Quito; included because Cumbayá is itself a recognized nomad-relevant residential hub, not because it's near the historic center.
Emergency Hotlines
ECU 911 (National Emergency Line)
- Number
- 911
- Cost
- Free
- Description
- Ecuador's national, free 24/7 emergency line for police, medical, or fire response, including sexual/domestic violence in progress. Free from any landline or cellphone; do not hang up until staff end the call.
1800-DELITO (1800 335486), Option 4
- Number
- 1800 335486
- Cost
- Free
- Description
- National hotline specifically for reporting violence against women (option 4 in the menu).
Fiscalía General Del Estado (Attorney General's Office)
- Cost
- Free
- Description
- Formal criminal complaints (denuncias) for sexual assault are filed here; an online complaint form exists so a report doesn't always require an in-person visit first.
In Person Support Services Quito
Centros De Equidad Y Justicia (CEJ) — Municipio De Quito
- Description
- Municipal centers in Quito offering legal and psychological support to victims of gender-based and intrafamily violence.
Patronato San José (Municipio Del Distrito Metropolitano De Quito)
- Description
- Municipal social-services body in Quito that channels support (legal/psychological) for violence victims.
Defensoría Pública (Public Defender's Office)
- Number
- 151
- Description
- Free legal aid/representation for victims of violence, including sexual assault cases.
Contraception Access
- Overview
- All modern female contraceptive methods (pill, IUD, subdermal implant, injectable, emergency contraception) are legal, medically regulated, and openly sold in Ecuadorian pharmacies. They are also distributed free of charge at Ministerio de Salud Pública (MSP) public health centers under Ecuador's Ley de Maternidad Gratuita (Free Maternity Law) and national family-planning strategy.
- Regulatory Status
- Fully legal and regulated
IUD
- Legal Status
- Copper and hormonal IUDs (DIU) are legal and available via private gynecology clinics or free through MSP public health centers/family-planning programs.
- Cost Private Clinic
- $70
- Cost Public Health Center
- $0.00
- Cost Note
- The private-clinic figure comes from a single promotional listing, not a broad market survey — treat as indicative only, not a guaranteed market rate.
Implant
- Legal Status
- Subdermal hormonal implants (e.g., Implanon-type, lasting 3 years) are legal and offered by private gynecology clinics in Quito, and are also part of the free methods distributed by MSP public health centers.
- Cost Note
- No verifiable specific private-clinic price for Quito was found in current sources; MSP public centers provide implants free of charge as part of national family-planning provision.
Emergency Contraception
- Legal Status
- Levonorgestrel-based emergency contraceptive pills (brand names include Escapel and Postinor) are sold over the counter in pharmacies without a prescription, and are effective when taken within 72–120 hours of unprotected sex.
- Cost Pharmacy
- $8.50
- Cost Public Health Center
- $0.00
- Cost Note
- Pharmacy chains sell it in the roughly $7–$10 range depending on brand; price shown is the midpoint of that documented range.
- Public Access Note
- Available free and without a prescription at MSP public health centers (centros de salud).
Oral Contraceptive Pill
- Legal Status
- Regular combined/progestin-only pills require pharmacy purchase (no prescription strictly enforced in practice) or are dispensed free at MSP public health centers.
- Cost Public Health Center
- $0.00
- Cost Note
- Reliable current per-pack pricing specific to Quito pharmacies could not be confirmed via available sources; publicly available reporting confirms the method is free at MSP centers.
Reporting Caveats
Women's-rights organizations (e.g., Fundación Aldea) have publicly noted that ECU 911 receives large volumes of gender-violence calls but does not have staff/resources to attend to every caller, so follow-up (in-person police or Fiscalía report) is advisable rather than relying on the hotline alone.
Health System Access
Ecuador's public health and gender-violence protection services are legally free and open to everyone regardless of nationality or immigration status, including undocumented foreigners.
Sources cited for this category
These are the sources cited in this women's health & safety research for this city. Individual figures may not each trace to one of them.
More About Quito
Data last updated July 2026 · Verify anything important.