Let's Wake Up!

There is a general myth that contraception refers to abortions or that an abortion is the main form of contraception. This, of course is not true. Contraception/family planning is prevention. These are methods to ensure that pregnancy does not happen.

Abortion is the termination of a pregnancy and till date is illegal except in certain circumstances. E.g. if the mother’s health is at risk. Anyone convicted of performing an abortion can be jailed for 14 years.

Despite the law, abortions are routine in Nigeria. It’s hard to get accurate data because abortions are under reported . Estimates put it at about 610,000 abortions(25 per 1,000) yearly. About 40% of these are performed in clinics by physicians. The other 60% is by midwives, nurses, pharmacists and technicians. This  leads to complications and these contribute to the high maternal mortality rate in Nigeria. The national mortality rate is 545 per 100,000 births but this is just an average. In the rural north-east, the figures are worse 1,549 per 100,000. When broken down, this means that 144 women die daily and one woman every 10 minutes from childbirth related issues.

list of possible complications, figures are inaccurate

  Abortions are not solely responsible for these deaths but they play a role. If there is no access to contraceptives, how can we prevent pregnancies? Contraceptive use even among married women is about 6%. There are all sorts of family planning clinics but it is hard for a single woman to walk into any of them and ask for help. Family planning services for unmarried women and for adolescents are acknowledged to be nonexistent or seriously inadequate, even though sexual activity among the unmarried may be increasing. There is still a lot of stigma about pre marital sex. Let’s wake up people. Whether we like , approve or are happy with it, guys and girls are having sex. |Not talking about it, is not helping. It doesn’t make them less curious and doesn’t mean they won’t do it. Information as they say is power. 

 Summary;” although highly restricted, abortions take place in large numbers in Nigeria, under both safe and unsafe conditions. Policies to improve access to contraceptive services would reduce unplanned pregnancy and abortion and, along with greater access to safe abortion, would help preserve the health and lives of Nigerian women.”

References

1.  AGI, Into a New World: Young Women's Sexual and Reproductive Lives, New York: AGI, 1998, Appendix Table 5, Columns 10-12.
2. Backer GK and Rich S, Influences on adolescent sexuality in Nigeria and Kenya: findings from recent focus group discussions, Studies in Family Planning, 1992, 23(3):199-210; Adetoro OO, Babarinsa AB and Sotiloye OS, Socio-cultural factors in adolescent septic illicit abortions in Ilorin, Nigeria, African Journal of Medicine and Medical Sciences, 1991, 20(2):149-153; and Feyisetan B and Pebley A, Premarital sexuality in urban Nigeria, Studies in Family Planning, 1989, 20(6):343-354.
3. The Incidence of Induced Abortion in Nigeria
   
   
   By Stanley K. Henshaw, Susheela Singh, Boniface A. Oye-Adeniran, Isaac F. Adewole, Ngozi Iwere and Yvette P. Cuca. From International Family Planning Perspectives
   
   

   Volume 24, Number 4, December 1998