Liberalization of abortion and reduction of abortion related morbidity and mortality in Nigeria

Abstract

This study aimed at determining the knowledge and perception of physicians in Nigeria on abortion related deaths, and also to find out if they will support the liberalization of abortion as a means of reducing deaths from unsafe abortion. Physicians' willingness to offer abortion services was also explored. A self-administered questionnaire was distributed to a convenience sample of physicians in Delta state of Nigeria. Physicians were equally divided on whether legal liberalization of abortion would significantly reduce maternal mortality in Nigeria. Only 13.4% of the doctors were willing to offer abortion services if legally liberalized. The majority of the doctors considered promoting abstinence from pre-marital sex and contraceptive use as best effective strategies for reducing abortion-related deaths. However, liberalization of abortion law in Nigeria was not considered a very effective strategy.

Differential Factors of Contraceptive Use and Adverse Outcomes of Pregnancy in Women with Ages 15 to 49 in Pretoria, South Africa

“…Finally, results obtained from multilevel analysis show that women receiving family planning services within the same health facilities shared similar characteristics with each other. Similar findings have been reported for other Sub-Saharan African countries by the United Nations Populations Fund [35] (2012: 6-7), the United Nations Children's Fund [10] (2013: 4-6), the World Bank [36] (2011: [11][12][13][14] and Hayes [5] (2012: 49.e1-49.e9). The study conducted by Williamson, Parkes, Wight, Petticrew and Hart [31] (2009: 1-12) in five developing countries has found that vital reproductive health and modern family planning services in developing countries are often underutilized by women in the childbearing age of 15 to 49 years mostly due to limited knowledge, lack of access, worries about fertility and the low status of women.…”

“…Based on data drawn from 40 countries, Ijaiya, Raheem, Olatinwo and Ijaiya [18] (2009: 137-145) have found that there is a statistically significant association between the effective utilization of birth control devices and reduction in adverse outcomes and pregnancy as well as the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan African countries including South Africa. This finding is in agreement with findings made by the South African National AIDS Council [19] (2012: 8-13) as well as the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS [20] (2012: [11][12][13] in which the promotion of reproductive health services and modern family planning methods has the potential for reducing the spread of sexually transmitted diseases and HIV/AIDS in Sub-Saharan African countries. The purpose of this particular study is to show that reproductive health services and modern family planning services are not effectively utilized by eligible women living in and around Pretoria, and that adverse outcomes of pregnancy are significantly associated with poor utilization of reproductive health and modern family planning services.…”

“…The estimates reported above are fairly similar to estimates that were reported by Statistics South Africa [27] (2012: 8-9), the South African National Department of Health [28] (2012: 4-5), the South African National AIDS Council [19] (2012: 6-9), the United Nations Joint Programme on HIV/AIDS [20] (2013: 11-12), the United Nations Children's Fund [10] (2013: [11][12], the United Nations Statistics Division [9] (2013: 5-6), Ijaya, Raheem, Olatinwo and Ijaiya [18] (2009: 137-145), the South African National Department of Health [16] (2013: 8 -9), and the South African Medical Research Council and ORC MACRO [28] (2007: [12][13]. The estimates obtained in this study cannot be compared with those obtained by Seutlwadi, Peltzer, Mchunu and Tutshana [8] (2012: 43-47) in view of the fact that the authors used 3, 123 young men and women aged 18 to 24 years old living in four of the nine provinces in South Africa, whereas this study is based on 3547 women aged 15 to 49 years living in and around Pretoria.…”

“…The study by Seutlwadi, Peltzer, Mchunu and Tutshana [8] (2012: 43-47) has found that utilization of contraceptives among young women aged 18 to 24 years was low (9.3% were using the Pill, 5.2% the intra-uterine contraceptive device, 25.6% injectables, 57.6% male condoms, 5.9% female condoms, and 8.9% dual methods; other methods used were the rhythm method (7.0%), withdrawal (11.5%), and emergency contraception (5.5%)). In the year 2003, the percentage of South Africans using at least one modern contraceptive was estimated as 60.3% by the United Nations Statistics Division [9] (2013: [12][13].…”

“…According to the United Nations Populations Fund [11] (2012: 4-6) and Wilmoth, Zureick, Mizoguchi, Inoue and Oestergaard [12] (2013: 2-3), utilization of modern contraceptives and family planning methods by women in the childbearing age of 15 to 49 years is a critical requirement for the reduction of mortality and morbidity in mothers and children under the age of five years living in the world's least developed countries. Okonta, Ebeigbe and Sunday-Adeoye [13] (2010: 1087-1090) have found that the most common causes of adverse outcomes of pregnancy among black teenagers are the lack of sex education, the absence of reproductive health services to vulnerable members of the community, poor access to primary health care and family planning services, poverty and unemployment, illiteracy, as well as the lack of counselling services by suitably trained social workers. Miscar-riages and abortions often cause the loss of fetus and permanent injury on women.…”