The Association for Reproductive and Family Health has called on the Federal Government to liberalise abortion law in Nigeria to make sure that women have safe abortion without risking their lives.
Quoting from the Nigerian Demographic Health Survey 2013, the organization said the maternal mortality ratio is 576 per 100,000 births while “approximately 10,000 Nigerian women, single and married, die annually from unsafe clandestine abortion, many in the prime of their lives.”
The ARFH said women “who survive unsafe abortion may have genital trauma, bleeding, anaemia, emotional and psychiatric sequelae, chronic pelvis pain, menstrual problems and tubal factor infertility.”
The association added that countries which have liberalised their abortion laws value the life of their citizens more than others still living in the past.
The President/CEO of ARFH, Prof. Oladapo Ladipo, made the request in a statement issued in Abuja in commemoration of this year’s “Global Day of Action for Access to Safe and Legal Abortion.”
According to him, rather than public health consideration of abortion legislation and provision of services, the issue of induced abortion has been dominated more by people’s attitudes and emotions.
He said, “Nigeria should learn from some developed countries who have liberalised their law. For example in UK, no induced abortion related death has been reported since 1972 while in Netherlands liberal law on induced abortion is associated with low rates of abortion because of comprehensive and universal sex education in schools and access to family planning for adolescent and adult males and females.
“There is wisdom in liberalising the Nigerian abortion law and also make available the technology, both medical and surgical, to ensure that women have access to safe abortion services without sacrificing their lives prematurely or having their fertility compromised. Universal access to comprehensive sexual and reproductive health information and quality services would enable individual to live healthier lives and contribute to better global health.
“No woman enjoys subjecting herself to induced abortion, unfortunate circumstances that range from major health reasons, foetal abnormally, rape or social reasons compel them to take the risk.”
Ladipo added that the issue of induced abortion remains divisive in public life, with recurring arguments to liberalise or to restrict access to legal abortions services.
“Women have the right to choose. Do the men who impregnate these girls and women value their lives? Is there any punishment for any man who is responsible for unplanned pregnancy? Is the currently restrictive abortion law in Nigeria a sign of gender discrimination and social injustice? Should we have a national debate or referendum?
“In Nigeria today, the maternal mortality ratio is 576 per 100,000 birth (NDHS 2013) and approximately10,000 Nigerian women single and married die annually from unsafe clandestine abortion, many in the prime of their lives.”.
ARFH recalled that during the latter part of the 19th century and well into the 20th century, abortion laws were restrictive in most countries in the western hemisphere and these laws and attitudes were exported overseas during the colonial expansion.
The association stated that restrictive Nigeria’s 1861 abortion law that still exist today reflects that history.
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