Abortion is the expulsion of the foetus from the uterus. There are a few types of procedures for abortion depending on how far gone the pregnancy is.
Now, this would have been interesting to talk about if Nigeria legalized it without restrictions as to reasons. However, we would take you through it for knowledge.
In-clinic abortion consists of the Suction abortion, Dilation and evacuation, and Dilation and extraction. Then we have the abortion pill.
D and C (Dilation and curettage) are commonly used as a term for abortion procedures. D and C are the removals of a part of the uterus or its contents. D and C can be done on both pregnant and non-pregnant patients. We would rather stick to any of the terms stated above.
According to the research by Guttmacher Institute, an estimated 8.3 million induced abortions occurred each year in Africa. The numbers are quite high for a continent which does not favour it.
12 out of 54 African countries do not permit it for any reason. While 5 have liberal abortion laws, countries including Zambia, South Africa, Tunisia, Mozambique, and Cape Verde.
In Nigeria, abortion is illegal and bags a jail term of up to 7 years for a woman who seeks to terminate her pregnancy except when done to save a woman’s life. A lot of women result in unsafe procedures of abortion mainly because of these restrictions.
Recently on abortion: the US Supreme Court has opened the door for individual states to ban or severely restrict the ability for pregnant women to get abortions. Click here to read more
In an article by P. Chibueze Okorie of the Nigerian Law School Abuja and Olubusola Adebayo Abayomi of the Nigerian Law Reform Commission; it is asserted that illegal abortion is responsible for 11% of maternal deaths in Nigeria of which 50% of such deaths involve young women and adolescents.
We preach abstinence, we do not own your moral conscience, so we also preach the use of contraceptives when sexually active.
Unfortunately, some women of reproductive age do not even know what a contraceptive is, some do not have access to it, and some find it way expensive and depend on male condoms or pills.
A lot of complications arise from unsafe abortion. Haemorrhage, incomplete abortion, uterine perforation, septic shock.
Despite the punishment under the law for It, should we also punish women who got pregnant as a result of rape and want an abortion? Should we deprive them of the step they feel is right to heal? Should we hold them captive in the thought of ‘what if’?
Let’s have your take on this topic?
