Although popular belief suggests that rural women in Bangladesh do not favor fertility limitation, abortion is quite common among them. Only recently was abortion recognized as having social, medical and demographic significance in Bangladesh. Virtually nothing is known about the practitioners who perform abortions on rural women. The indigenous abortion practitioners are a diverse group. The goal of this study, done through case studies of selected women practitioners, was to elicit the practitioners'' description of abortion procedures, as well as their perceptions. The article suggests directions for further research and policy development. Above all, it points to the need for reappraisal of abortion services as part of health and family planning policies affecting rural Bangladesh.