Despite the large number of lives threatened by unsafe practices, abortion remains a highly controversial issue in Nigeria, where it is mostly illegal except to save the life of the mother. Despite the restrictive laws, however, unsafe abortions continue to be a major public health concern in the country, with an estimated 3.5 million induced abortions taking place each year. This is due to a lack of access to safe and legal abortion services, as well as cultural and religious
Friday Okonofua, University of Benin The word “abortion” is used to describe two types of pregnancies that end before 20 weeks, which is now regarded as the age of viability of a pregnancy. Spontaneous abortion occurs without an intention by the woman to stop the pregnancy, it is pregnancy loss before 20 weeks of gestational age. Induced abortion is the deliberate termination of a pregnancy because it is unwanted. About 10% to 20% of all pregnancies in
A recent study showed drug sellers were the only source of information about misoprostol for three-quarters of the 400 women aged 18–49 who self-managed an abortion using misoprostol. The study found that most women who participated in the study did not receive adequate or accurate information about how to administer misoprostol, how much to use, or what to expect during the abortion process. For example, only 67% of participants were told to anticipate bleeding and 35% were told to expect cramping,
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), about 75% of all abortions in Africa are unsafe. It added that across the world, women in Africa have the highest risk of dying from unsafe abortion. While the WHO recently raised alarm regarding unsafe abortion, the situation is most severe in Africa where abortion is largely unsafe and the risk of dying is highest but this does not mean that it is not a global crisis. According to the WHO, 45% of